HiRezBart has just finished his latest pre-release patch live stream for the upcoming update that will introduce the highly anticipated God, Athena. I’ve been around for quite a few SMITE patches but this is one I’m personally very excited for. Although data-miners reported the possibility of Athena a few weeks ago, it wasn’t until today that it was confirmed that we’d finally get a female God that can work in the tanking role. We’ll leave the lesser exciting stuff for last but check below for a detailed preview of Athena’s abilities
Reach (Passive)
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Following the use of an ability her next basic attack becomes ranged dealing additional magic damage (+50% of magical power) to all enemies it hits.
Preemptive Strike
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Athena powers up a dash ability that passes through minions until it encounters an enemy God. Each enemy hit by the ability becomes slowed and applies a stack of Block to Athena, absorbing the next basic attack from any enemy God.
Confound
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Athena launches a cone-shaped attack from her shield, taunting all nearby enemy God’s and forcing them to attack or chase her. Enemy God’s hit with the taunt are also unable to use any abilities.
Shield Wall
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Athena summons a group of Athenian warriors who do initial damage, as well as additional damage after the ability ends (2 seconds).
Defender of Olympus
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Her ultimate ability allows Athena to choose any allied God on the map before launching to them after 4 seconds of charging. During the charge time the target ally receives a 50% damage mitigation buff. Enemies in the nearby area will take damage once Athena arrives. This ability is going to play havoc on heavy CC lanes.
Although the patch obviously focused around a new God, as it usually does, there’s a host of other features in the patch scheduled to release tomorrow. I’ve highlighted some of the more exciting aspects below:
- Severe nerf to Ne Zha’s Flaming Spear reducing attack speed from 55% to 35% at maximum rank
- New voice packs for Cupid, Ne Zha and Athena
- Poseidon Golden complete with surprise Golden Kracken effect
- Confirmation of future Gold Skins involving gold recolors for pets
- Ra’s Celestial Beam will cause damage 40% faster thanks to a quickened animation
- Variety of bug fixes
- Ability to view friends and clan members detailed statistics