SMITE – Hands-On Preview Assault Mode (ARAM)

A new patch went live for Smite today and with it comes a brand new game mode. MMOAttack were given the opportunity to sit down with the Hi-Rez team and preview the highly anticipated Assault mode. Most well known as ARAM (all random, all mid) to the MOBA community, the new game mode promises to deliver all the action of a great Smite match but without the early or mid game. The below preview is based on a custom game mode and may not reflect the full release tomorrow.

The new mode features a single lane consisting of two towers, a Phoenix and a Minotaur, as well as a base for each side. God selection is totally random and once you’ve purchased your items and left the fountain, you cannot recall. Outside of those changes the game mode features similar Smite mechanics with both teams having to destroy their opponents towers and Phoenix before progressing through to the Minotaur fight.

Every player began Assault mode at a predetermined level, giving them the option of choosing which abilities to upgrade and which to ignore; depending on how high people start. There are some options available in the custom game mode as we started at level 1 with 3,000 gold and level 5 with 5,000 gold. Sadly we couldn’t get a full list of the options as the developers were hosting the games. The gold rate increases to 4 per second, making it quite a fast-paced mode in terms of buying new items. It looks like the final version, the one available to the public, will only include the settings for the level 5 start when it launches.

Arguably the most exciting aspect of this new game mode is the random God selection. Unlike other Smite modes, with the exception of Match of the Day, players cannot intentionally choose an OP God or a God they’ve got hours and hours of experience with. Any MOBA player worth their salt will tell you that the best way to become a better MOBA player is to learn the abilities and weaknesses of your opponents, there’s no better way to follow that advice than a game mode that features totally random God’s each and every time.

Assault mode does a great job of blending the tactics of Conquest with the fast-paced combat of Arena. ARAM has proven to be an incredibly popular game mode in other MOBA games and it’s looking to repeat that success when it becomes available to all Smite players tomorrow.

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