Smite bonus update 8.1 balances starter items, nerfs Set and Cupid, and new god skins – Patch notes

For those eager to check out Tiamat in Smite’s 8.2 update, you only have to wait until February 23 for the new goddess’ arrival. But before that happens, a wave of new balances will be happening for several of the new starter items in the game. The 8.1 bonus update modifies a lot of them, and the biggest changes are coming to Manikin Scepter. The changes for the item are so big, Hi-Rez is breaking up the adjust between update 8.1, and 8.2

There are also changes coming to Set and Cupid in the bonus update. Unfortunately, both of these gods are receiving a nerf. Set is having the base damage go down with skewer, and his ultimate, kingslayer, gives him less health with it. Cupid is also receiving a nerf with the damage scaling for heart bomb going down, and the cooldown for his ultimate, fields of love, is going up.

You can read about all of the big changes in the upcoming patch notes. The bonus 8.1 update launches on February 9. You can check out Smite’s patch notes for update 8.2 over here, launching on February 23.

Smite bonus update 8.1

God skins

• Home run Heimdallr
• Book of Nightmares Thoth
• Dragon’s Dagger Pele
• Modern Android Achilles

Items

What an exciting new season it has been! Everyone has been trying out a ton of stuff and we have been trying our best to keep up with the ever changing data and feedback we are getting! In this Bonus Balance we are largely looking at bringing the starters closer in performance to each other while addressing hot button concerns with potential strategies that may be less than fun.

CONDUIT GEM

Conduit Gem has largely been the top performer. Its raw power combined with solid regen and solid upgrades put its direct competitor, Sands of Time in a strange spot. Nerfing the regen and Magical Power both puts more focus on playing around its passive but gives Sands of Time a better shot as succeeding in its regen niche.

• Decreased MP5 from 15 to 10
• Decreased Magical Power from 30 to 25.

ARCHMAGE’S GEM

Archmage’s Gem was also the go to choice for upgrading Conduit Gem. The raw burst provided from this item created an extremely bursty late game for mages. Taking the edge off this items scaling will still let this item burst but at a more reasonable level.

Decreased 2.5% scaling per stack to 2%

PENDULUM OF AGES

Archmage’s Gem was also the go to choice for upgrading Conduit Gem. The raw burst provided from this item created an extremely bursty late game for mages. Taking the edge off this items scaling will still let this item burst but at a more reasonable level.

• Increased Cooldown Reduction from 10% to 20%
• Increased Magical Power per 10% Available Mana from 7 to 10

MANIKIN SCEPTER

Manikin Scepters adjustments will be in two parts. We originally planned for a single bonus balance adjustment that targeted this item’s ability to trade effectively in lane. A decrease in Physical Protection and lane damage should help bring it more into line, especially to help Warriors Axe remain competitive against it with its nerfs. However, we saw very quickly this week Manikin Scepter explode in popularity above other items more than anticipated. With Bonus Balance already prepared to ship to all platforms, we cannot add to it. However, we have seen the item’s usage continue to grow and will be applying an additional nerf in the 8.2 launch.

• Decreased Physical Protections from 15 to 10
• Decreased Bonus Damage from 16 to 12
• Increased Bonus Jungle Damage from 3x to 4x.

Bluestone Pendant has been a highlight for many players, but struggled to fight solid use at the top levels of play. Particularly Warriors struggle to upgrade this item as none of them provide any defensive benefit. Bluestone Brooch will now serve as the bruiser option for the bruiser focused Warrior.

Now Provides 200 Health

WARRIOR’S AXE

Warrior’s Axe was another solo lane item that we have heard a lot about at the top level of play. This item was not only a solid counter to the tick damage of Manikin and Bluestone but was outright good at trading due to the health steal. Removing the flat damage reduction should make matchups against it feel more fair while a small health increase should offset the nerf from feeling too intense.

• No longer provides 2 flat dmg reduction
• Increased Health from 50 to 75

SUNDERING AXE

As the direct upgrade from Sundering Axe, it no longer felt like it should provide this flat damage reduction and it seems to be doing quite well already!

Removed the 5 flat dmg reduction

WARDING SIGIL

Warding Sigil struggled to see any play as it was too niche, focusing too heavily as a counter to Magic Damage. We are making it a true tanky option with a slight lean on Magical Protection.

• Now provides 10 Physical Protections.
• Decreased Health from 100 to 75.

INFUSED SIGIL

The upgrades for both of these items also struggled from both being niche in countering Magical Damage and in Infused Sigil’s case, a passive that didn’t quite feel impactful enough. Infused Sigil will now trigger more often and more an extra punch.

• Decreased stack count to detonate from 5 abilities to 4.
• Increased detonate damage from 400 to 500 Magical Power.

SIGIL OF THE OLD GUARD

Sigil of the Old Guard is the direct upgrade to Warding Sigil, so to meet with its more tank focused stats this item is gaining some protections as well.

Now provides 30 Physical protections.

WAR FLAG

War Flag is unique in that it is a starter item that really encourages aggression and controlling the lane to get farm rather than it being generated on its own. The tradeoff, especially for 700 gold, felt too intense. A cost reduction will allow supports to have more flexibility with additional consumables and item choices to help them succeed with this item.

Decreased cost from 700 to 600.

BENEVOLENCE

Benevolence similarly felt punishing in its cost. This item both asks the Support to sacrifice farm but also incur a high burden of cost. Bringing this cost down will give more freedom in item choices for Supports.

Decreased Cost from 750 to 600

SENTINEL’S EMBRACE

Sentinel’s Embrace really embodies what it means to support your team. The raw protection provided made this item difficult to ignore and overpowered many other support options. At 100 protections this item will still provide a strong stat line to your team but open up other options to compete.

Decrease both protections shared between allies on the passive from 120 to 100

COMPASSION

Sentinel’s Embrace and Compassion are often compared as they do similar effects (protecting your team) in different ways. Without any mitigation on its own the incoming damage taken from allies was too much of a penalty. An extra 40 Magical Protections will soften incoming damage and allow supports to utilize this effect for longer.

Now Provides 40 Magical Protections

ANIMOSITY

Animosity has been fun to watch. While many players have tried to find multiple opportunities to skip buying a starter to utilize the split push power of this item, we have seen that largely fail as a strategy in the stats. However, even if it does struggle the bonus structure damage also doesn’t feel particularly fun to fight against. If it is both ineffective and not fun to play against, we would rather remove this aspect of the item and allow supports to use it to beat up enemy gods. For example, Ymir has been the most successful with this item over Zhong Kui and Erlang Shen, boasting a solid winrate amongst the other starter options available! Go Ymir!

No longer deals bonus damage to structures.

DEATH’S TEMPER

Death’s Temper had an issue that made it not as strong as it should have been, but it also had an issue when it came to gaining stacks. The range on getting a kill was so short it often felt buggy, feeling like a stack should have been given but not receiving one. The range on this should now feel comparable to other items that stack on kill.

Increased range at which you can gain stacks from fallen enemies from 30 units to 80 units.

Rod of Tahuti definitely excelled with the bonus Magical Penetration. We do like this item having the Magical Penetration as it feels like a natural item for it to be on, but the Power it now has is too high. Decreasing it to 140 will make this item more comparable to other percent penetration options.

Decreased Magical Power from 160 to 140

Gods

SET

Set’s high base damage combined with a strong brawling ultimate makes him a monster at most stages of the game. In particular this change focuses on his level 5 to 10 range where Skewer’s Base damage has come online and the flat healing of Kingslayer is most impactful. In this window Set should be a more manageable threat.

SKEWER

Decrease Base Damage from  85/135/185/235/285 to 85/130/175/220/265

KINGSLAYER

Decreased Base Healing from 45/55/65/75/85 to 35/45/55/65/75

CUPID

Cupid really climbed the hunter ladder with his changes to Heart Bomb in Season 7. Heart Bomb’s scaling bring a hair too much damage in teamfights while Fields of Love is a constant and difficult to answer threat. The longer cooldown on Fields of Love will lower how often Cupid can burn relics and punish them by himself when they are down.

HEART BOMB

Decreased scaling from 80% to 75%. (10% on double hit)

FIELDS OF LOVE

Increased cooldown from 90s to 100s.