Smite Update 12.11 Patch Notes (Smite 9.4 Update)

Smite update 12.11 (Smite 9.4 Bonus Update) released on PS4, PC, and Xbox One. According to the official Smite 12.11 patch notes, the latest update added a new Chinese god (Yu Huang) as well as balancing and bug fixes. Apart from this, Smite version 12.11 also includes stability improvements

Previously, a big season update added Shiva – The Destroyer to the game. Unfortunately, since the last major patch, players are experiencing several issues with the game. Today’s Smite patch 12.11 will fix a few of these issues. Read more details below.

Note: Smite Update 12.12 Hotfix Update Released. Read Details here.

Smite 12.11 Patch Notes (Smite Update 9.4) – April 19, 2022

New Chinese God

Yu Huang – The Jade Emperor

Master of the Dao

Yu Huang attunes himself to the Dao, giving his Basic Attacks and Abilities additional effects. He gains a stack of Dao every 15s. He may also gain a stack by hitting an enemy after not taking or dealing damage for 3s. Once he has 6 or more stacks, Yu Huang becomes Attuned, allowing his Basic Attacks to chain to one additional enemy.
- Chain Basic Attack Damage: 75%
- Attunement Cost: 6 Dao
- Max Stacks: 12 Dao

Flames of the Phoenix

Yu Huang conjures four cinders of the phoenix, spreading them in an X shape. The cinders rush inward, dealing damage once as they travel. When the cinders meet, they explode in a field of flames that persists for 3s, burning enemies inside. If Yu Huang is Attuned, when the cinders explode, all enemies in the area have their Magical Protections reduced.
- Cinder Damage: 15/25/35/45/55 (+15% of your Magical Power)
- Initial Damage: 70/100/130/160/190 (+45% of your Magical Power)
- Burn Damage: 5/6/7/8/9 (+5% of your Magical Power) every 0.5s
- Burn Duration: 2s
- Protection Reduction: 4/6/8/10/12 for 3s
- Cost: 60/65/70/75/80
- Cooldown: 11/10.5/10/9.5/9s

Dao Cultivation

Yu Huang begins cultivating his Dao before firing a projectile that damages and slows enemies it passes through. As it travels, it leaves behind a trail that explodes, damaging and rooting all enemies. This ability can be fired early to deal 60% of its damage, gaining additional damage up to 1s. Yu Huang can also continue charging up to 3s to earn more Dao on firing.
- Projectile Damage: 50/70/90/110/130 (+35% of your Magical Power)
- AoE Damage: 50/95/140/185/230 (+50% of your Magical Power)
- Slow: 20% for 1s
- Root Duration: 1s
- Max Dao Gain: 6
- Cost: 60/65/70/75/80
- Cooldown: 13s

Celestial Flight

Yu Huang calls forth the Pearl Dragon from beneath him, banishing himself into the air and becoming untargetable. He then gracefully floats back down to the ground in a controlled flight, damaging enemies where he lands. While Yu Huang is floating, he may refire this ability to increase his downward momentum, causing him to fall faster. If Yu Huang is Attuned, the Pearl Dragon follows him as he descends, knocking back any enemies beneath him.
- Damage: 70/120/170/220/270 (+50% of your Magical Power)
- Movement Speed: 15%
- Cost: 70
- Cooldown: 20s

Dueling Dragons

Yu Huang manifests a huge surge of dragon-shaped energy, becoming CC immune and summoning the Pearl Dragon to oppose him. He then has 3s to aim his dragon of energy toward the Pearl Dragon, who will charge directly at it. Both dragons damage and push enemies caught in the blast. If the dragons collide, a damaging explosion occurs in the area. If Yu Huang is Attuned, the width of the dragons is increased by 50%.
- Push Damage: 150/225/300/375/450 (+50% of your Magical Power)
- Explosion Damage: 100/140/180/220/260 (+45% of your Magical Power)
- Cost: 100
- Cooldown: 100s

QUALITY OF LIFE

Online Connectivity and Server Issues

The team is working to mitigate the issues resulting from last week’s attacks, and the first performance fix is going live with this update, 9.4. We expect to continue working on this throughout 9.4’s live dates and release additional improvements in future updates.

General

Introduced the Achievement and Avatar for mastering 120 gods

Jungle Practice

The God Bots, Fire Giant, Gold Fury, and Buff Camp areas are now classified as Jungles so that some item interactions (e.g. Protector of the Jungle) behave as they would in Conquest’s Jungle
Added a button spawner for a Titan in the Tower & Phoenix area
Added HUD health bars for the Fire Giant and Gold Fury

BUG FIXES

UI

- Fixed an issue where players audio settings would be automatically lowered at unintended times
- Fixed an issue where PC players were unable to copy/cut/paste text within the game UI
- Fixed an issue where some players ranked matches were not being properly counted specifically only for god leaderboard progress
- Fixed an issue where the Welcome Pass would display the incorrect end date for some players
- Fixed an issue where all 6 Conquest Role Icons looked like the “Fill” Icon
- Localization
  - Fixed a variety of text issues across the game for the Spanish Language
    - Fixed spacing, spelling, and grammar issues on multiple items
      - Infused Sigil, Warlock’s Staff, Heartseeker, Emperor’s Armor, Staff of Myrddin, Charon’s Coin, Spirit Robe
    - Fixed spacing, spelling, and grammar issues on multiple Gods
      - Serqet, Pele, Bacchus, Ravana, Set, Odin
    - Fixed an issue where Zeus’ Detonate ability would remain in English
- Custom Games
  - All Pick and Enemy Pick Options will now work as intended

God Builder
- Fixed an issue where god abilities would show up as undefined/blank text
- Fixed an issue where the consumable amount variable was not working
- Fixed an issue where Ratatoskr could not build his acorns through the god builder

General Gameplay

Fixed an issue with “Account Boosters” not providing the proper bonuses

Gods

- Hera
  - Fixed an issue on Conquest where Hera’s Polymorph would sometimes turn enemies invisible
- Olorun
  - Overflowing Divinity
    - Updated text to state: Hitting the same Enemy deals 20% less damage each time, capped at 90% reduction.
- Tiamat
  - Primordial Onslaught

Updated text to state: Hitting the same Enemy deals 15% less damage each time, capped at 70% reduction.
Chang’e
- Fixed an issue where activating a vision shard at level 12 would open the item store
Achilles
- Fixed an issue where his passive meter would display incorrect self buff stats
Shiva
- Fixed an issue where Shiva could dash inside of structures then fall through the map
Ne Zha
- Fixed an issue where the petals on his passive meter were not being displayed
Charybdis
- Fixed an issue where Charybdis would be invisible if she transformed into her whirlpool form at specific distances from her opponents
Atlas
- Fixed an issue where he could pull Tsukuyomi to him at unintended times
Mercury
- Fixed an issue where his ultimate could trigger some item effects from activating and canceling the charge-up

Items

Berserkers Shield
- This item will now auto-activate at low hp when it comes off cooldown, to be more consistent with similar items like Asi
Aegis of Judgment
- This Relic will no longer deal damage to structures
Seer of the Jungle
- Fixed an issue where Towers and Phoenixes would not target an invisible God with Seer of the Jungle passive activated
Magic Shell Relics
- Fixed an issue where Shell Relics were providing reduced basic attack damage buff for longer than intended

Smite 9.4 Balancing

Game Modes

Conquest
- These first two Conquest changes are subtle, but have a lot of potential to create change. The goal of these changes are to make Duo Lane less volatile, and to slow down the Gold and XP gain of Mid and Jungle. We think that shifting XP away from Mid/Jungle and into the hands of Carry/Support at an earlier time in the match will help move us toward both goals simultaneously. We are also decreasing the total team XP awarded by the Obelisk. This will slow down the pace of the game and decrease the snowball factor. Conquest will also be seeing more significant changes in future updates.
- Support Buff Camp
  - Increased Base XP Reward of Support Buff Holder from 45 to 90
  - Increased Base Gold Reward of Support Buff Holder from 24 to 44
- Back Harpy Camp (Duo Side)
  - Removed an Elder Harpy from Back Left Harpy camp
  - This camp will no longer be Marked by the Obelisk
- Obelisk
  - Decreased Team XP gained per offering from 25 to 15

The Nerf Update

We hinted at this type of update in the previous update notes as well as in some extra communications from Design Director Ajax, and now the moment has arrived! This update will be a Nerf Update – meaning that the entirety of the God and Item balance sections will be focusing only on nerfs!
The SMITE community has been vocal about damage being too powerful and too present in SMITE and this update will be taking a major step to address that. In the previous update we looked at the two most specific meta sources of burst damage – Mage Penetration and Berserker’s Shield. Those changes were just the beginning though. This update features a multitude of nerfs across many of the top Gods and Items to continue this effort.
The damage topic is often described as a “game wide” issue – but changes have to be implemented specifically across various gods and items, so the process inevitably requires us to work through one god or item at a time. When going through that process it made the most sense to start by nerfing the most powerful and highly prioritized gods and items in the game. Applying this many changes all at once could have far reaching and unpredictable results, but we saw the clear community desire for it. We think we have formulated a cautious and consistent plan to execute this large amount of nerfs in a single update.
We are eager to hear feedback and to monitor game data from this update, and we are open to doing more nerf passes like this in the future if necessary.
Goals
- Nerf a large amount of top performing gods and items
- Achieve a net decrease of damage in SMITE through these nerfs
- Make changes that will be felt in all game modes
- Do not buff. Even though we felt like there were some good options, buffs will be saved for future updates
God and Item Selection
- Evaluate the highest pick/ban rate, purchase rate
- Compare that with the highest damage output, win%, and community sentiment
- Consider Conquest data as highest priority but compare with non conquest modes too
- Nerf God damage output wherever possible or things that contribute directly to damage like self buffs and cooldowns
- Nerf Item Physical or Magical Power whenever possible or things that contribute to damage like attack speed or bonus damage
Exceptions
- Do not nerf gods or items who are already perceived as weak (low pick/ban rate or low win%) even if they have high damage or high power
- There are a few defensive nerfs to gods as we felt that the god needed nerfs but damage wasn’t as much of a factor for them
- There are a few item protection nerfs to make sure we don’t shift the game too much in favor of tanks
- 2 Reworks
  - These do not tie directly into the goals of the nerf patch, but were already in progress from multiple departments when balance work on this patch began.
  - Both of these changes felt like meaningful quality of life improvements that people would be excited to play with, so we kept them in the update. Both are shifts with considerable nerfs and buffs combined in order to achieve specific gameplay goals.
    - Erlang Shen
      - Erlang is losing an entire form of CC but gaining some new features to help him better perform in the solo lane or duo lane.
    - Archmage’s Gem
      - The item is getting a long quested buff to make it feel better to use, but also seeing a damage nerf at the same time.
Final Counts
- 29 Gods Nerfed (including bonus)
- 37 Items Nerfed
- 8 Relics Nerfed (2 Relics, 4 Upgrade States Each)
- 2 Reworks

General

Diminishing Returns

Another common point of discussion is Crowd Control. There is a game wide rule that impacts the strength of CC chains in SMITE, so we can effectively nerf CC game wide with a single set of adjustments.
Diminishing Returns (DR) is a concept applied in many multiplayer games, and it is always active and present in SMITE. DR causes gods to be CC’d for a shorter duration than the ability specifies if and only if they have been affected by another CC effect within the last15 seconds.
This weakens the overall effect of “CC chains” in which multiple gods or abilities can work together to keep a single opponent locked down for a long period of time. If you get stunned, then stunned again, the 2nd one will be affected by DR and thus be shorter. There are some exceptions like Knock-ups and Channeled effects like Grabs – these are not reduced but do apply DR to reduce the duration of subsequent CC effects.
We are open to addressing CC further by nerfing the duration of the effects on specific god kits in the future. We are also open to revisiting the CC and DR rules in general to make this system more clearly communicated and consistent. Those possibilities will be decided upon at a later date depending on the data and feedback from this update.
Increased CC duration reduction from 33% to 40% per stack
- Max 2 stacks (unchanged)
Decreased the CC duration minimum from 0.5s to 0.4s
- CC duration cannot be reduced to lower than 0.4s through DR’s effect

Download and play free Smite patch 12.11 on PlayStation 4, PC, and Xbox One.