The latest patch to Hi-Rez Studios’s free-to-play, mythology-based MOBA SMITE recently went live, bringing with it a handful of shiny new skins, a bunch of bug fixes, and some balancing changes to the game’s newest champion, Hera. Seven of the game’s characters have received brand-new skins: Three of them, for Artio, Neith, and Kukulkan, are part of the ongoing Hera’s Odyssey event, while the other four — for Cerberus, Terra, Hou Yi, and Ra — can be acquired through the Season 5 HRX Digital Loot Pack.
Other than that, this patch largely focuses on bug fixes and minor adjustments, as this patch is the version on which HRX competition games will be played, and as such, the team wanted to avoid making any balance changes so as “to allow sufficient practice time for all pros to practice in the current meta.” However, since the game’s newest champion Hera is not yet allowed in professional play, this patch does bring a handful of balance changes for her and her alone.
“We specifically intended to avoid an OP release with Hera,” the patch notes say, but the devs recognize that they “went too far, and she is clearly undertuned.” This patch aims to remedy that a bit: “Hera’s focus going ofrward will be her control. As a divine leader, she has influence over others. We will be looking to buff parts of her kit that align with this theme, while also adding a few damage increases to bring her in line with other mages,” the patch notes say. You can check out the specific details of those changes — plus the bug fixes and other additions in patch 5.20 — over on the game’s official site.
