All Patch NotesGet the Latest Patch Notes and Gaming News

SMITE – 9.6 Patch Notes | Matchmaking Overhaul!

3
SMITE – 9.6 Patch Notes | Matchmaking Overhaul!

Introduction

In the latest patch notes for SMITE, there are several quality of life improvements and bug fixes that players can look forward to. One notable change is the end of match lobby survey, which has been updated to focus on "Matchmaking Quality" instead of "Server Quality." This survey will be available after every SMITE PvP match, allowing players to provide feedback on their matchmaking experience. Additionally, the SMITE Night quests have been clarified to specify that they can be completed in any mode that provides quest rewards, giving players more flexibility in completing these quests. For the upcoming SMITE Night events, players can expect exciting game modes such as Classic Conquest, Corrupted Arena, and 5v5 S9 Conquest. Each week will offer unique rewards, including jump stamps, cosmetic chests, emotes, and more. In terms of gameplay improvements, the auto builder and recommended item system has been enhanced to build items in the proper order, pay better attention to a god's role, and include more recent balance changes and meta shifts. The UI has also received updates, with artistically refreshed "God" screens and new settings for muting players and showing VGS. Lastly, various bug fixes have been implemented, addressing issues with ranked leaderboards, lobby music, filter options, and more. With these updates, players can expect a smoother and more enjoyable gaming experience in SMITE.

QUALITY OF LIFE

  • General
    • End of Match Lobby Survey: Matchmaking
      • After completing a SMITE match there is often a small button on screen that opens up a player survey.
      • This survey has been focused toward “Server Quality” for a while, but we are now changing it to “Matchmaking Quality”
      • This should be available at the end of every SMITE PvP match in all game modes, and we want to hear from you! So please let us know through this in-game survey how you feel your matchmaking was after your matches.
    • SMITE Night
      • Quests
        • Clarified the wording on one of the SMITE NIGHT Quests to specify that it can be completed by playing ANY mode that provides quest rewards. There is always 1 Quest a week that can be completed even if you cannot or don’t want to play the specific SMITE NIGHT mode.
      • Week 1 – Classic Conquest
        • Players have really been enjoying this mode so we want to keep it as part of the SMITE night experience for at least 1 more month.
      • Week 2 – Corrupted Arena
        • The chaotic push and pull gameplay of Corrupted Arena will return for this SMITE NIGHT! Push, throw, or launch your opponents into the death pits on this Arena map to find victory!
      • Week 3 – Classic Conquest
      • Week 4 – 5v5 S9 Conquest
        • The competitive week 4 of SMITE Night returns, and currently is planned to always be the 4th SMITE Night in every cycle. This way there is always a regularly scheduled time for full party only Conquest
        • In 9.6 this mode will now have a picks and bans phase
      • Rewards:
        • Week 1
          • Yin Yang Jump Stamp
          • SMITE NIGHT Cosmetic Chest
        • Week 2
          • Heavenly Light Chest
          • SMITE NIGHT Skins Chest
        • Week 3
          • 3 day Account Booster
          • SMITE NIGHT Emote Chest
        • Week 4
          • Pick Your Own God Chest
          • SMITE NIGHT Avatar Chest
        • Milestone
          • Geyser Recall
          • SMITE NIGHT Skins Chest
    • Auto Builder and Recommended Item System Improvements
      • Auto Build will more closely build items in the proper build order
      • Auto Build will more closely build the initial starting items at level 1 as would be expected from player created builds.
      • Auto Build will now have game mode specific recommendations for all major game modes.
      • Auto Build will now pay better attention to a gods god-role combo and get the proper items for the specific role (as selected in the pre-game lobby, and only applies to conquest)
      • The data that drives the auto builder system will now be updated more frequently and include a larger player pool to make sure it better includes recent balance changes and meta shifts, and mopre quickly removes items that have been nerfed
      • Much of this was implemented in the most recent update, but was completed after the update show and notes had already gone out, so feel free to check this out even before 9.6 goes live!
  • UI
    • The “God” Screens within the game client have been artistically updated to better match the rest of the client UI
    • New Settings in the “User Interface” section
      • Mute All Players
        • Options are:
          • <Unmuted>  (default)
          • <Mute All>
        • This will automatically mute all players on both your team and the enemy team, you wont need to mute them manually from the scoreboard. If you use this option to mute people you will also need to use this setting to unmute people
      • Show VGS of Muted Players
        • Options are:
          • <Full Mute> (default)
          • <Show VGS>
        • This option allows you to choose if you would still like to see VGS from players you mute. When the <Show VGS> setting is chosen, muting a player will only mute their custom-typed chat, not their VGS or Pings.

BUG FIXES

  • UI
    • Fixed an issue where the ranked leaderboards had the wrong information in the MMR/TP Column and no information in the Wins column
    • Fixed an issue where after playing a match the lobby music would stop playing in the god select screen, victory/defeat screen, and end of match lobby
    • Fixed an issue on the Console God page where filter options were not working properly and displaying blank icons
    • Fixed an issue with the full mute setting also muting sound effects from party members
    • Fixed an issue where the Conquest preferred role points weren’t displaying correctly on the Play tab
    • Fixed an issue where the Chaos Arena minions had the wrong name and were labeled as Order minions
    • Fixed an issue where the relic Drowned Ankh didn’t have an art icon for true damage on the recent damage taken and recent damage dealt screen
    • General Gameplay
      • Persistent CC will now reapply if cleansed and the god remains in the area
      • Conquest
        • Fixed an issue where players would clip and appear inside a rock near the Chaos side Blue Buff
      • Slash
        • Fixed an issue where objective HUD health bars for the Titans were missing on all platforms
        • Fixed an issue where Console was missing enemy objective HUD health bars for Towers and Phoenixes
  • Gods

    • Atlas
      • Fixed an issue where his second ability Gravity Pull would sometimes ignore player Purification Beads and not drop players upon use
    • Bakasura
      • Fixed an issue with his ultimate ability Regurgitate visually disabling cleanses on enemy Gods during CC immune abilities
    • Xing Tian
      • Fixed an issue with Whirlwind of Rage and Steel where the ability would not throw enemies at the end of the duration if Gods were grabbed while knocked up
    • Baba Yaga
      • Fixed an issue where her second ability Baba’s Brew would sometimes not show explosion and splash FX
    • Set
      • Fixed an issue with his third ability Sandstorm where getting stunned upon activation would cause a broken state where the ability couldn’t be reused
    • Fenrir
      • Fixed an issue where the player camera would shake consistently while auto attacking
    • Ganesha
      • Fixed an issue where enemy Gods would be silenced at unintended times if they were near him and leaped through the cone field on his second ability Ohm
    • Chaac
      • Fixed an issue with his SlaughterHouse skin where the ultimate ability targeter would become invisible to enemies when facing away
    • Mercury
      • Fixed an issue where his second ability Maximum Velocity was dealing damage to Jungle Camps upon activation at certain ranks
    • Heimdallr
      • Fixed an issue with the Valhalla Vice skin voice pack getting cut off early when saying “Ward Here”
    • Thanatos
      • Fixed an issue with his Angel of Death skin where the second ability Scent of Death FX trail was being cut off
    • Loki
      • Fixed an issue with his Grim Mariachi skin playing silent SFX while turning invisible
      • Brought back the laugh SFX when he uses Vanish for self only
    • Thoth
      • Fixed an issue with his Beaky Bot skin where ability audio was quiet
    • Jing Wei
      • Fixed an issue where her stats wouldn’t update while toggling items on and off in the God Builder
    • Erlang Shen
      • Fixed an issue where one of his achievements did not make sense with his kit changes.
    • Baron Samedi
      • Consign Spirits
        • Changed Wording from Ground Speed to Movement Speed
  • Items
    • Hide of the Nemean Lion
      • Fixed an issue with the passive of this item negating 65% of Tower Damage when it should negate God damage only
    • Blackthorn Hammer
      • This item was intended to be buffed in 9.5 bonus, but that buff failed to make it to live servers. Given Warrior performance since then, we are deciding to cancel this and it will not go live. Blackthorn Hammer will remain at 25 Physical Power.
    • Hero’s Axe
      • Fixed an issue with the passive not proccing against knockup and knockback abilities

BALANCE LIVE WITH THE 9.6 UPDATE – JUNE 14

Game Modes

The new changes to Conquest have been quite successful, but we have noticed a few adjustments we want to make to the new mechanics. The first step will be making Trebuchets more impactful by boosting their health scaling, movement speed, and attack speed. Chalice Offerings are also getting a small buff to bring back the mana heal, which the Hindu Offerings had. They Are also going to be easier to pick up and able to be recovered if an enemy attempted to steal one but then fled before they could pick up the offering. Finally we are going to be reverting the tower adjustments for Conquest only. The 9.5 towers needed big buffs to make sure they were more intimidating even in a world where all gods became tankier, we walked this back slightly due to some mixed feedback, but now after observing Conquest more we have significant data and feedback to show that the mode worked better with the original numbers and more lethal towers.
  • Conquest
    • Trebuchets
      • Fixed an issue where Trebuchets would stop scaling after 6 minutes
        • Trebuchets now gain +150 HP every 2 minutes, up to a maximum of 20 stacks
      • Increased Movement Speed from 250 to 280
      • Reduced cooldown between attacks from 5 seconds to 4 seconds
    • Chalice Offerings
      • Shortened the delay before they can be picked up from 1.0 to 0.5 seconds
      • Can now be picked up by both teams when stolen from an Obelisk
      • Now grants a 5% Mana Heal in addition to 15% Movement Speed for 10 seconds
    • Towers
      • Tier 1
        • Increased Penetration from 20% to 30%
        • Decreased base power from 230 to 215
      • Tier 2
        • Increased Penetration from 20% to 30%
        • Increased base power from 270 to 290
      • Phoenix
        • Increased Penetration from 20% to 30%
        • Increased base power from 290 to 320

Items

We are keeping balance lighter in this update to give players more time to adapt and experiment with the major changes of 9.5. When 9.5 launched a few specific issues with god and class balance became obvious, and we wanted to take decisive and meaningful action to address those. In 9.5 Hunters clearly got much better, and Warriors got much worse. In 9.5 Bonus we implemented some strong changes to correct both of those situations and we are happy to find out that both of those classes have returned to their more normal levels of win%.
Now our focus turns to Mages and Assassins, who are still on a slight downturn since 9.5. Mages have remained in team comps, but often struggle against midlane hunters with more consistent damage output, and better clear.
To help bridge the gap between these two classes in the mid lane, we are adding additional bonus damage to minions only (lane and jungle) to the aggressive Mage starter items: Sands of Time and Conduit Gem.
Basic attack Assassins have largely overtaken their ability based counterparts, so we are also doing some shifts to address this. Golden Blade is being slightly nerfed with a cost increase, and some Assassin Penetration items are seeing some Power and Damage Scaling buffs. Tier 1 Morningstar is also being nerfed, not for any class balance reason, but because it just provided strictly better stats than other Tiers 1s. This change brings it back in line with similar items.
MORNINGSTAR
  • Decreased Physical Power from 10 to 7
GOLDEN BLADE
  • Increased Cost from 2000 to 2150 gold
DEVOURER’S GAUNTLET
  • Increased base Lifesteal from 10% to 15%
  • (which increases total lifesteal on evolve from 20% to 25%)
SANDS OF TIME
  • New Passive (in addition to the current passive)
  • +10 Bonus Ability True Damage To Minions and jungle camps
CONDUIT GEM
  • Now deals an additional 2 True Damage per stack against minions and jungle camps (40 max)
HEAVY MACE (T2)
  • Increased Physical Power from 25 to 30
WARRIOR’S BANE
  • Increased Physical Power from 20 to 25
TITAN’S BANE
  • Increased Physical Power from 45 to 55
THE CRUSHER
  • Increased Physical Power Scaling on the passive damage from 15% to 20%

Gods

YEMOJA
We are now in a lower burst meta than usual, and yet Yemoja remains a top SPL pick. This goddess can lock down enemies for much longer than the usual Guardian, if she plays all of her abilities well. This is even more valuable in a world where it takes longer to kill people. Her Riptide ability is one way she can do this, by launching an enemy into her team or by cutting off a path of escape. We are decreasing the duration of the ring deployable to make this a less effective zoning tool, and decreasing the slow it applies to enemies to weaken its immediate pull. We are also nerfing the slow on her Ultimate, to give enemies a slightly better chance to escape if they do get trapped between the waves long enough to be hit by the collapse.
RIPTIDE
  • Decreased Ring Duration from 6s to 3s
  • Decreased Slow on Opponents from 20% to 10%
RIVER’S REBUKE
  • Decreased the Initial Slow applied to enemies hit by the crashing waves from 90% to 60%
BARON SAMEDI
The new solo meta has sent Baron skyrocketing to the top of the good pool. One thing has really stood out in his performances, and thats been the heal that his 2nd ability can provide. This heal has a portion that scales off % Missing Health, which can create huge swings in the fight. As kills take longer to secure now, this ability becomes even more powerful and more likely to hit bigger heals, so we are bringing down that number specifically.
CONSIGN SPIRITS
  • Decreased the missing health heal aspect of this ability from 10% to 7.5%
JING WEI
All hunters got a big boost from the 9.5 changes, but none more than Jing Wei. This goddess utilizes Crit and focuses on Basic Attacks, both of which are very powerful now. On top of that, she is hard to gank, which made her one of the most contested gods in the SMITE Masters tournament. Hunters items were nerfed recently so we are taking a lighter approach to Jing Wei, and walking back a recent buff to her Explosive Bolts. This ability plays best into the meta right now so this 10% damage nerf should have a noticeable impact.
EXPLOSIVE BOLTS
  • Decreased Damage per Shot from 120% to 110% of Jing Wei’s Physical Power
RATATOSKR
With the meta still developing and changing from the massive 9.5 update, we still see a lot of gods shifting around in the charts. However, we have identified a few that seem to be clearly struggling. Ratatoskr is the first of these, we are decreasing the cooldown of Acorn Blast to boost his CC and his burst damage, and increasing the power scaling on his Ultimate.
ACORN BLAST
  • Decreased Cooldown from 15 to 14/13.5/13/12.5/12s
THROUGH THE COSMOS
  • Increased Physical Power Scaling from 70% to 90%
RAVANA
Another burst Assassin needa a boost, so Ravana is receiving a few changes. His shield is going to be made more effective, which will combine well into the recent health buffs all gods got and his two primary damaging abilities are both getting power scaling buffs. This should make Ravana much more threatening in the Jungle.
CHAIN OF BLOWS
  • Increased the shield from this effect from 5% to 7% of his Maximum Health per stack
PRANA ONSLAUGHT
  • Increased Physical Power Scaling from 80% to 90%
10-HAND SHADOW FIST
  • Increased Physical Power Scaling from 70% to 85%
ODIN
The leader of the Norse pantheon needs some help. Odin certainly has potential to become strong in this meta, it wasn’t so long ago that he was the top Warrior due to his rework. We are reverting a few nerfs from that period and adding back more damage to Gungnir’s Might. Odin brings a lot of control to a team which could be very valuable in the late game, and these buffs will help make sure he can clear his wave effectively enough to get there.
GUNGNIR’S MIGHT
  • Increased Pulse Damage from 25/45/65/85/105 to 30/50/70/90/110
  • Increased Gungnir Damage from 60/110/160/210/260 to 60/120/180/240/300
FREYA
This goddess has one specific limitation that is putting her behind the rest of the Hunters and Mage Carries: Pulse. Freya isnt a true carry, as her ranged basic attacks are limited by the duration of an ability, so she can only ranged clear for a short period of time. Minions got much tankier and Freya’s pulse needs a big improvement to help her keep up, so we are increasing the bonus damage significantly. Its important to note that we chose to increase damage over duration, we have experimented with a lot of Freya balance options in the past, one of which was a longer uptime on her ranged basics. This caused balance problems and also harmed the goddess’s core themes. Freya is all about making plays during those specific buff windows, and now she will be able to do exactly that.
PULSE
  • Increased Base Bonus Damage per shot from 20/30/40/50/60 to 35/45/55/65/75
YU HUANG
The meta isnt super friendly to mages, and the newest mage is feeling that too. The item changes in this update should help but we wanted to give the Jade Emperor some extra love. He will now gain Dao much faster when out of combat, and will also have a lower cooldown on his main CC ability, which will also improve his Dao generation.
MASTER OF THE DAO
  • Decreased time it takes to passively gain Dao from 15s to 8s
DAO CULTIVATION
  • Decreased Cooldown from 13s to 13/12.5/12/11.5/11s

NEW SKIN VOICE ACTORS

  • Bok Bok Horus: Mark Whitten
  • Combo Breaker Terra: Caitlyn Elizabeth
  • Hardwired Heimdallr: Talon Warburton
  • One True God Athena: Jess Nahikian Atlas
  • Lancelot: Matt Curtis
  • Dark Angel Ah Muzen Cab: Jacob Craner
  • Bone Shaker Cerberus: John Lipow
  • Oblivion Temptress Da Ji: Judy Alice Lee
  • Gazing Archon Medusa: Kaitlyn Robrock
  • Code Slasher King Arthur: Adam Gold
  • Mizkif Thanatos: Mizkif
  • Summer Eclipse Morgan Le Fay: Claire Curtis-Ward
  • Burger Time Xing Tian: Anthony Sardinha
  • Slash Kuzenbo: Alejandro Saab

Responses (0 )



















Keep scrolling for more news

Below, you'll find a variety of titles that you may be interested in from news category