I’m as excited about MOBA’s as I am about sauerkraut, it’s just not for everyone. Yet, for a while, I was addicted to this version of a reuben sandwich. The MOBA in question, Smite was on my radar for a while due to it’s Publisher/Developer: Hi-Rez studios doing another game called Tribes and Tribes: Ascend. Tribes: Ascend had promise but never fruition. About that time a new project was in alpha/beta state and I tried it out. It was fun but severely limited and didn’t have much replay to it. After a while I came back and: it….was…awesome.
The MOBA aspect of the game is what grabbed me about Super Monday Night Combat because it all comes together in a unique experience through the third person mode. However, the real draw was the fact that characters were modeled against real mythological Gods. Basically giving a run of the intellectual property fair use abilities on Norse/Greek/Roman/etc mythologies. The only hang up is that they had to be a legend/god. The game has yet to touch Muslim/Islam/Christian figures in most obvious ways. All that in mind, Smite has a healthy amount of current, and future, gods available to it.
The normal nuances of any MOBA are that you get items as you go through the level up system. These items have three tiers to them and you can have 2 active items(activated and have 3 tiers as well increasing their effects) and finally 2 consumable items(go away with use and have no leveling system). A pro-tip would be to always pick up items that are recommended for your character first and to see how they play with it. All gods have 4 abilities on thir action bar. To power up and activate further abilities while leveling, you must put the points into them(with the function keys or ‘k’ menu). Some abilities can wait til further in the game, others are must haves and need as much power as quickly as possible. This is where all gods being different arises. There are some gods that have a second set of abilities, but in doing this they usually have a less powerful/no ultimate. Practice with a god before using them in competitive games.
Gameplay comes in a few different modes at the time of writing:
- Conquest(5v5) is the stereo typical 3 minion lane and 1 jungle lane match up with strategy/execution key to the mission at hand. The objective is to kill the Titan at the other base, which is based on legends/myths as well. You push minions and towers, yes this is what a MOBA does. Calling into necessity, execution and aim, more than any active MOBA out there(SMNC does not count as it isn’t active).
- Arena(5v5) is a popular variant that has a middle and two side jungles with each of the buffs available in a normal jungle. Minions feed into mid and must be removed before the get to the other bases portal. This game has a countdown from 400 and it will decrease any time an enemy god is killed(5 points), a minion reaches the portal(1 – 15 based on minion), or 15 seconds passes(each side loses a point). Which ever counter hits 0 first loses.
- 3 v 3/1v1 Joust are similar to each other. It’s a 1 minion lane 2 jungle lane with a mid impasse around mid. If you can hold the flow of minions past mid against the 2 towers of that side, you will surely control the game.
- Assault(5v5) is a strict 1 minion lane and no jungle variant that forces you to a random god for the match. You can change to another random god if you pay with Gems(money currency) or favor(in game currency). there are 3 towers to the end and in the end you face a titan near the enemy base. This modes one hiccup is that once you leave your base platform, you can’t go back. You must purchase your items while on this platform.
- Siege(4v4) has two minion lanes(right and left) and a very large and advanced mid jungle. The game type revolves around killing everything as much as possible. After you get the game’s siege counter from 0 to 100, you will get a siege minion down a random lane. It’s tough and hits hard. Much like a moving tower. If the siege is not brought down or equaled by another Siege from your side, you will lose. This is also my most infuriating game type. Sometimes comes off as somewhat unbalanced.
- Match of the Day(MOTD) is a match that isn’t like the others and often comes from some stupid alternative to one of the existing game types. It’s stupid because it might force you to all gods or max/no money. It gets pretty ridiculous
Game currency is pretty simple and relatively useful:
- The in game currency is called favor. Favor unlocks skins and gods. You get favor by completing a game of logging in for daily bonuses. Leaving a game will reset your bonus favor per game, and as a note you will lose bonus favor even if you get disconnected.
- Gems are the paid game currency and you purchase premium skins, voice packs, or gods with this manner of currency. There are usually weekends/events where playing gets you gems.
- The last currency is the during game currency and it resembles gold. You buy the items you need with this during the game. Taking down towers, gods, and minions(bonus for last hit).
My starting tutorial advice would be to go to streams. Hi-Rez also has tutorials built into the game as well as on youtube. There is a lot to learn compared to other MOBA’s and I caution anyone who gets frustrated easily to take it slow and try to play bots, or use other such alternatives to get the feel for what you might like. The controls can be a little clunky and the UI more so on PC. On Xbox One it flows relatively better without the ability to type and more emphasis on voice. This is both a good and bad thing.
My personal feelings on the game is that Hi-Rez has a put a lot of resources into this game and it shows. I have been around since beta/alpha and it’s got a lot going for it. They have never failed on any of their promises to the community and any time there is an issue, the issue will get reviewed. I highly advocate for this game. Especially for those that want an entry into MOBA’s or are a veteran. It’s a very good take on the MOBA’s. It’s like the cheeseburger of Reuben’s.