The SMITE World Championship just kicked off in Atlanta Thursday and Hi-Rez Studios is revealing more information about the changes coming Season 3 of the third-person MOBA. The first reveal is a fairly stunning remodel of the Joust map to a Chinese theme followed by the introduction of the Japanese Pantheon of gods with Amaterasu.
The new Joust map being introduced with SMITE Season 3 is a stark contrast to the original. The medieval look is being upgraded to a Chinese mythology theme based on the legends of Sun Wukong. It appears is based on the Journey to the West novel with floating islands and waterfalls in the background of a Sky Palace.
The look is not the only thing changing with 3v3 Joust. The popular SMITE mode is also getting a change to the layout and minions. There are now three buff camps for teams to fight over, new NPCs, and a new mini boss all based on Chinese lore.
Hi-Rez Studios has teased the introduction of the Japanese Pantheon to SMITE for much of the past year. They are finally being added to the game starting with the goddess Amaterasu on January 12. She is a melee warrior that does best in team fights and features a stance switch to give her abilities either offensive or defensive capabilities. These primarily come in the form of buffs to allies and debuffs to enemies.
The most interesting of the abilities is her second ability, Heavenly Reflection. It is based on the mirror that Amaterasu keeps with her. Activating it grants a defensive buff that charges the mirror based on how much damage the goddess receives. The mirror will then fire a shot at enemies either when the ability is activated a second time or at the end of five seconds.
Meanwhile, Amaterasu’s ultimate ability is similar to the old Guan Yu ultimate. It’s a three-hit combo that delivers a stun at the end.
Here is the complete breakdown of the Amaterasu’s abilities from the SMITE 2.21 patch released to the Player Test Server today.
- Passive : Illuminating Strike
- Amaterasu illuminates enemies she hits with Basic Attacks. After three hits on the same target the enemy gains an Aura, exposing their weaknesses and causing them to take more damage (10%) from all sources for 5 seconds. Any other enemies that come near the afflicted target are weakened as well.
- Max Auras Possible: 3.
- Amaterasu illuminates enemies she hits with Basic Attacks. After three hits on the same target the enemy gains an Aura, exposing their weaknesses and causing them to take more damage (10%) from all sources for 5 seconds. Any other enemies that come near the afflicted target are weakened as well.
- Divine Presence
- Amaterasu harnesses the power of her jewel, healing herself every second for 4 seconds and providing a Buffing Aura to allies nearby. Her Auras are always active and every time this ability is activated the Aura alternates between Valor and Benevolence. Cost: 50/55/60/65/70. Cooldown: 9s.
- Heal Per Tick: 20/30/40/50/60 (+5% of your Physical Power).
- Valor Aura : 15/20/25/30/35 Bonus Magical and Physical Power.
- Benevolence Aura : 5/10/15/20/25% Movement Speed.
- Amaterasu harnesses the power of her jewel, healing herself every second for 4 seconds and providing a Buffing Aura to allies nearby. Her Auras are always active and every time this ability is activated the Aura alternates between Valor and Benevolence. Cost: 50/55/60/65/70. Cooldown: 9s.
- Heavenly Reflection
- Amaterasu charges her mirror for 5 seconds. While the mirror is charging she takes decreased damage. By activating the ability again or at the end of the 5 seconds she will fire her mirror straight ahead. The mirror will charge up from successfully attacking enemies or from taking damage, and can deal up to double the base damage when fully charged. Cost: 70/75/80/85/90. Cooldown: 14s.
- Self Damage Mitigation: 3/6/9/12/15%.
- Mirror Damage: 50/100/150/200/250 (+60% of your physical power).
- Full Charge Damage: 50/100/150/200/250.
- Amaterasu charges her mirror for 5 seconds. While the mirror is charging she takes decreased damage. By activating the ability again or at the end of the 5 seconds she will fire her mirror straight ahead. The mirror will charge up from successfully attacking enemies or from taking damage, and can deal up to double the base damage when fully charged. Cost: 70/75/80/85/90. Cooldown: 14s.
- Glorious Charge
- Amaterasu shines light off her sacred blade, Silencing all enemies in front of her. She then dashes forward dealing damage, piercing through minions or stopping at the first god hit. Cost: 70/75/80/85/90. Cooldown: 18s.
- Silence Duration: 1s.
- Dash Damage: 70/130/190/250/310 (+60% of your Physical Power)
- Amaterasu shines light off her sacred blade, Silencing all enemies in front of her. She then dashes forward dealing damage, piercing through minions or stopping at the first god hit. Cost: 70/75/80/85/90. Cooldown: 18s.
- Ultimate : Dazzling Offensive
- Amaterasu focuses the power of the heavens into an impressive three strike combination attack. The second hit will do 20% more base damage and Slow enemies. The third hit will do 40% more base damage and Stun enemies. She must hit an enemy target with each hit to progress the combo. Cost: 100. Cooldown: 75s.
- First Strike Damage: 75/125/175/225/275 (+50% of your Physical Power).
- Slow Duration: 2s.
- Stun Duration: 2s.
- Amaterasu focuses the power of the heavens into an impressive three strike combination attack. The second hit will do 20% more base damage and Slow enemies. The third hit will do 40% more base damage and Stun enemies. She must hit an enemy target with each hit to progress the combo. Cost: 100. Cooldown: 75s.
SMITE’s introduction of Amaterasu will happen on January 12 as part of the Rising Dawn event. This is a new mini-Odyssey for the game that includes Japanese-themed skins for existing heroes. A kawaii Neith skin and Gaiju Sobek skin have already been revealed, but more are coming.
The Xbox One version of SMITE will receive the same content at a later date.
[Image via SMITE]
