General

• The Goddess of Victory finally lives up to her name. Nike's rework yielded a lot of positive feedback for providing a unique new ability while also paving the way for more balance changes. After a few more small adjustments she has finally had her breakthrough moment. Starting as a niche pick in the SPL Jungle, then slowly catching on across other lanes and other skill levels, Nike is putting on quite a show by now. The primary nerf we are applying is the duration of the Slow on her Ultimate. Six seconds is an eternity in SMITE, causing this goddess to secure a few too many kills in the early game. This will now rank up with the Ultimate.

Barrier Formation

• Decreased damage from 85/140/195/250/305 to 70/130/190/250/310.

Sentinel of Zeus

• Decreased Slow Duration from 6s to 4/4.5/5/5.5/6s.

General

• Fixed an issue where Nike was not knockback immune while channeling Barrier Formation.

General

• The Goddess of victory is staying true to her name, and doing quite well in the metrics since her rework. However, many players have stated that her vulnerability to knockups feels inconsistent and frustrating in certain matchups. Nike seems to be continuing her niche as low popularity but high win rate” and we hope this change makes her a more attractive pick in some matchups.

Barrier Formation

• Nike is now is knockback immune while channeling.

General

• Nike has still struggled since her rework, gaining new utility but not quite making up for the loss of power from Plan of Action and her previous Passive’s power. Valiant Leap has a large cooldown and limits how often she can engage. We want to lift this restriction and encourage more aggressive play.

Valiant Leap

• Decreased Cooldown from 18s to 16s

General

• The Goddess of Victory received an ability rework in the Mid-Season 6 Update. This was met with a lot of positivity, but it actually nerfed the character. This was intentional and the amount of win-rate she was accumulating from her passive was too much, preventing the goddess from receiving meaningful buffs. With that problem solved we feel comfortable adding some strength to this goddess to help her feel as powerful as her former self. Her base HP5 is being buffed to make up for the regen she lost in the rework, and damage is being increased on Rend and Barrier Formation to make sure that enemies feel her presence.
• Increased Base HP5 from 7 to 10.

Rend

• Increased Damage from 50/80/110/140/170 to 60/90/120/150/180.

Barrier Formation

• Increased Refire Damage from 65/120/175/230/285 to 85/140/195/250/305.

General

• Barrier Formation
• While channeling, this ability now plays the music or sound FX that Plan of Action to used play for base Nike and each of her Skins.

General

• Nike is receiving the largest changes of any god this patch. Nike has been in an odd spot for a while, you would expect the most winning god in the game to be a popular choice, but she simply was not. In fact, she is one of the least played gods in the game. The major issues we heard from players was that she didn't feel like she brought impact to the fight. Additionally, an ability solely dedicated to augmenting another can sometimes make her feel like she is lacking a full kit. When looking at her kit, the passive is a major contributor to her incredible win rate but it isn't something players feel; so her predicament makes sense.
• To address this we first are nerfing her passive across the board. If we want to give her impactful feeling power without breaking her balance, this is something that must be done. With that done, we can reinvest that power into her core abilities and a full rework on Plant of Action. All abilities will now benefit from their Plan Of Action” version as their base form, with a few numerical adjustments. Plan of Action is being replaced with a new ability: Barrier Formation!
• Barrier Formation gives Nike the ability to lead the charge for her team and protect herself and allies from incoming attacks. Enemy Ranged Basic Attacks are absorbed by her, and enemies that get too close will be repelled away and dealt damage. When this effect ends (either by refiring or timing out) the Barrier will collapse and deal damage in a larger area. This ability also solidifies Nike's role as a frontline Warrior who takes one for the team to ensure victory.

To Victory!

• Bonus Power decreased from 4/6/8% to 1/2/3%.
• Bonus Movement Speed decreased from 2/4/6% to 1/1.5/2%.

Rend

• This ability now always fires 3 times.

Barrier Formation

• This ability has been reworked, replacing Plan of Action.
• Nike conjures a protective barrier in front of her that blocks ranged Basic Attacks. While channeling the barrier Nike's movement and rotation are limited. Enemies who get near the barrier are damaged and knocked back. At any point, Nike can re-fire the ability to collapse the barrier and deal damage to enemies in a larger area in front of her.
• Channels for up to 6 seconds.
• She moves 50% slower while channeling.
• Refire Damage (single hit at end of ability): 65/120/175/230/285 (+50% of your physical power)
• Pulse Damage on Shield: 10/15/20/25/30 (+5% of your physical power) per hit
• Plus a knockback effect.
• Cooldown: 15s at all ranks
• Mana Cost: 60/65/70/75/80

Valiant Leap

• This ability now always travels at the faster speed.

Sentinel of Zeus

• This ability no longer goes on cooldown if Nike dies during the warmup time.
• Gain shield immediately.
• Increased shield health amount from 20/25/30/35/40% of Max Health to 30/35/40/45/50% of Max Health.
• Note that the shield health does not increase from Plan of Action.

General

• When looking at Nike we see a goddess who performs well, but players often described as lacking impact and choice. We want to encourage Nike players to be more aggressive when initiating for their team and giving more choice as to where to use Plan of Action. Sentinel of Zeus will now slow the full amount all the time, allowing Nike to be more flexible with Plan of Action. This allows Nike to initiate immediately with a buffed Valiant Leap rather than needing to save it for the AoE control of Sentinel of Zeus.

Sentinel of Zeus

• This ability will slow enemies by 40% whether Plan of Action is active or not.

General

• Nike's balance is quite the interesting topic. Since her release, Nike has been one of the most winning gods in the game, at every skill level; even after multiple nerfs and adjustments. This includes both casual conquest and at high levels of ranked, but she does take a hit at the very highest, where she is only in the top 20 gods. The likely explanation is that Rend, although it seems easy to interrupt, is often allowed to deal its full damage to enemies, hitting for near ultimate levels of damage. At the highest level of ranked this is heavily mitigated by skilled interrupts.
• With this in mind we want to make two adjustments. First, we want to reduce the damage this ability does which should impact her performance at all levels and bring her win-rate closer to the rest of the gods. With this however, we are allowing Rend to be knockback immune, giving players more reliable access to this damage which is an important factor at high level play.
• Since her case is so unique (being statistically strong, but most players not feeling this level of strength) we are going to watch this change very closely over the next few patches.”

Rend

• Nike is now knockback immune while channeling this ability.
• Decrease damage from 50/85/120/155/190 to 50/80/110/140/170.

General

• To Victory! has a powerful effect on any given match. We are toning it down to limit its impact, especially in the late game. Additionally, Rend is seeing a cooldown increase which should open up a longer window during the laning phase to fight Nike while Rend is down.

To Victory!

• Decrease Bonus Movement Speed from 3/5/7% -> 2/4/6%.
• Decreased Bonus Power from 6/8/10% -> 4/6/8%.

Rend

• Increased Cooldown from 12s -> 14s.

General

• Nike just keeps on winning. Who knew the Goddess of Victory would embrace that quality? Nike provides strong early game Damage and leads her team to victory in the late game with her Passive and engage Power. She is seeing a slight nerf to all three of these aspects to allow for the enemy team a better shot at seeing the victory screen.

To Victory!

• Decreased Bonus Power from 8/10/12% -> 6/8/10%.

Rend

• Decreased Physical Power Scaling from 50% -> 40% per hit.

Sentinel of Zeus

• Decreased Physical Power Scaling from 80% -> 70%.

General

• Nike has certainly been leading her teams to victory. As a Warrior, she serves a powerful role as an initiator while also boosting her team's strength through her Passive. This style of leading her team forward is something we like, and feel really fits Nike. With this in mind, we looked at where she was overly succeeding.
• Sentinel of Zeus' health shield was giving Nike the ability to survive very dangerous situations early on so we are toning it down. To Victory is also being slowed down to lower Nike's impact early on in the game.

To Victory!

• Increased the number of minions required to activate Goal #2 from 200 -> 250.

Sentinel of Zeus

• Decreased Slow from 30% -> 20%.
• Decreased Plan of Action buffed Slow from 60% -> 40%.
• Decreased Health Shield from 40% -> 20/25/30/35/40%.
• Decreased Plan of Action buffed Health Shield from 60% -> 40/45/50/55/60%.

General

• Updated Ability SFX for Passive, Rend, Valiant Leap, and Sentinel of Zeus.
• Updated Clap Emote Audio.

Plan of Action

• Updated Plan of Action tooltip (Gaining +10/15/20/25/30 HP5).
• Ensured Plan of Action cannot be canceled in its startup.

General

• Released.