General

• We did it, Reddit! The king of the gods has heard the will of his subjects, who pointed out a possibly Quality of Life buff for Zeus. Most ranged deployables in SMITE are allowed to be fired over walls, and we agreed that Zeus’s shield throw should also be allowed. We don’t plan to apply this rule to every ability in the game, as some might have thematic or mechanic elements that don’t merit going over walls, but we are changing this for Zeus and for a few other gods.

Aegis Assault

• Can now place this ability in locations over walls

General

• Zeus is here to bring the lightning! Zeus’ passive provides players an opportunity to eek out extra damage with his Basic Attacks, however his base Attack Speed made this exceedingly difficult to accomplish. Expect to see more lightning bolts go flying and just maybe we will see some extra variation in his build choices.
• Increase Base Attack Speed from 0.87 to 0.95

General

• Zeus has broken free from the underworld and is back in action! However, he continues to struggle in conquest specifically, while performing very well in all other modes. Zeus is getting a small buff to help his early lane clear without boosting his teamfight damage, which should help him get back in the conquest meta.

Aegis Assault

• Increased Static Damage from 50/60/70/80/90 to 55/65/75/85/95.

General

• Fixed an issue where the detonate achievement could not be earned.

General

• Zeus has an interesting balance history. This god was often considered completely unviable in competitive and Conquest play, but recently we have found that to be false. Zeus has been prioritized in SPL and putting up decent ranked numbers, and his non-Conquest performance is even more intense. We are taking this opportunity to nerf him in a unique way that also helps gameplay clarity. Enemies will now see a warning visual FX before detonate strikes them, giving slightly longer window to react to the damage.

Overcharge

• Added text to show duration of charges.

Detonate Charge

• After this ability is used there is now a delay time of 0.3s before the enemy is hit with damage.

General

• Zeus is a powerhouse in most modes, bringing a heavy amount of early and mid game burst with teammates that can keep him safe. We want to increase opportunities for players of these modes to deal with his pressure. Aegis Assault helps confirm his damage more easily, and a low cooldown makes it hard to find an opening against Zeus. Additionally, his high base damage allows him to bring the pain early, even without many damage items. We did increase his scaling as a whole, which should help him in Conquest, allowing players who can bring Zeus to late game strong AoE damage to see success, but this change is overall targeted at his overperformance in our other game modes.

Aegis Assault

• Cooldown increased from 10 to 12.

Detonate Charge

• Increased Damage from 55/75/95/115/135 to 60/90/120/150/180.
• Increased Magical Power Scaling from 18% to 25%.
• Reduced Multiplication for each charge from 1/2/3 to 1/1.7/2.4.

Lightning Storm

• Adjusted Damage from 120/140/160/180/200 to 100/130/160/190/220.
• Increased Magical Power Scaling from 50% to 55%.

General

• Zeus is bringing the Thunder in 5.9! Zeus relies on Detonate for his primary burst and poke potential. We are reducing the Mana cost at all ranks to help him stay active in a fight, especially early game. Lightning Storm will also deal more damage at all ranks, allowing Zeus to contribute to a fight even when enemies quickly flee from his storm.

Detonate Charge

• Decreased Mana Cost from 90 at all ranks to 60 at all ranks.

Lightning Storm

• Increased Base Damage from 100/120/140/160/180 to 120/140/160/180/200.

Aegis Assault

• Changed scaling from basic attack power to +30% magical damage.
• Increased static damage from 10/15/20/25/30 to 50/60/70/80/90.
• This means the static damage went from roughly 47/55/61/70/77 (+20% of your magical power) to 50/60/70/80/90 (+30% of your magical power).

General

• Zeus is ready to bring the lightning! Zeus has had a tough time in Season 4, seeing only limited success early on in the Season. Since then he has been struggling and trailing behind most other mages. His early Conquest clear leaves him in an awkward spot, as there are many strategies to counter an already complex clear tool.
• Aegis Assault will now trigger a static AoE when hit by Chain Lightning, giving Zeus an extra way to quickly proc more damage before minions can move away from the shield. He can also use this technique to stack more charges on Enemy gods, speeding up his burst damage. Chain Lightning is also receiving a slight scaling increase to help Zeus remain threatening late game. His scaling is lower than most mages, but he was really struggling in hyper late game to make the impact players want from their mages.

Chain Lightning

• Increased Magical Power Scaling from 40% to 50%.

Aegis Assault

• Aegis Assault's static AoE will now be triggered when the Aegis is hit by Zeus' Chain Lightning.

General

• Fixed an issue where Zeus' Basic Attacks had a larger hitbox than intended.

General

• Zeus has struggled to compete with other Mages that fill a similar role. We are increasing his base movement speed to help him position himself in teamfights, and rotate to skirmishes that develop.
• Increased Base Movement Speed from 355 to 360.

General

• Fixed an issue where Zeus Charges would not appear correctly.

General

• Zeus has seen quite the resurgence on the Battleground of the gods. His ability to clear early with Aegis Assault and use it to threaten further damage helps him to bully his opponents in lane for an early lead. Aegis Assault will now deal less damage when it is deployed to tone down this early game pressure.

Aegis Assault

• Decreased initial Hit Damage from 80/125/170/215/260 -> 60/105/150/195/240.

Aegis Assault

• No longer knocks minions back.

Chain Lightning

• Increased bounce delay from 0.2s -> 0.3s.

General

• Aegis Assault often moved too fast for players to be able to dodge, especially from follow up Chain Lightning bounces. With a reduced projectile speed, players should be able to play around the shield more effectively.
• Fixed recall fx not playing on the ground.

Aegis Assault

• Reduced projectile speed from 90 -> 70.

General

• Zeus has received a lot of tweaks to improve his abilities as well as a whole new ability to supplement his base kit. Before we talk about the new ability, let's look at the tweaks to his older skills. Chain Lightning, while getting a few number adjustments, will now bounce much quicker allowing for Zeus to react faster to how the chain bounced. It will also now also slow allowing for better synergy with his new ability and his Ultimate. Lightning Storm is also now castable while moving. This change will let this skill be used more fluidly when needed. His new ability Aegis Assault is a deployable shield that acts as an extension of his attacks. Basic Attacks and Chain lightning will trigger bonus damage for wave clear and those unfortunate to be near the shield, while also acting as a bouncing point for Chain Lightning, allowing Zeus to punish isolated targets. Overall we expect these changes will allow Zeus to thrive as a high aggression and high burst Mage who needs to use careful positioning to maximize his potential.

Chain Lightning

• Decreased bounce delay from 0.4 -> 0.2s.
• Reduced damage from 45/85/125/165/205 -> 40/70/100/130/160.
• Increased cooldown 8s -> 10s.
• Now applies a 30% slow to targets for 2s.

NEW - Aegis Assault

• Zeus throws his shield forward, dealing 80/125/170/215/260 +50% Magical Power as damage to nearby enemies. The shield remains for 5s, and Zeus may hit it with Basic Attacks or Chain Lightning to deal an additional 10/15/20/25/30 + Basic Attack damage and apply a charge. Cost: 60/65/70/75/80. Cooldown: 10s.

Detonate Charge

• No longer slows if you have 3 stacks on a target.

Lightning Storm

• Zeus is no longer rooted while casting this ability.

Detonate Charge

• Fixed an issue where rank 5 could incorrectly apply Disarm to targets.

General

• Rework clap emote not animating.

General

• Fixed lightning bolt in lobby misbehaving.

General

• Fixed lightning bolts persisting while on the lobby pedestal.

General

• Fixed some T-posing issues with his Almighty skin.

General

• New art and icons for abilities.

General

• Cleaned up some FX issues at all end of match lobby screens.
• Fixed an animation issue after landing from jumping and using a basic attack.
• Stormbringer and Almighty skins are back to using the old basic attack projectile.
• Fixed some issues with blue and pink highlights showing through his hair on the new model skins.

Detonate Charge

• Slow increased from 30% to 40%.

Chain Lightning

• Arc distance reduced from 40 to 34.

Detonate Charge

• Targets with 3 Charges are no longer stunned, they are instead slowed 30% for 1.5s.

Detonate Charge

• Reduced damage from 60/80/100/120/140 to 55/75/95/115/135 per charge.
• Reduced scaling from 20% to 18% of your magical power per charge.

Chain Lightning

• Recovery time reduced from 0.66 to 0.1.

Aegis Shield

• Recovery time reduced from 0.25 to 0.1.

Detonate Charge

• Recovery time reduced from 0.15 to 0.1.

Aegis Shield

• Removed the slow immunity.
• Reduced the granted protections from 15/25/35/45/55 to 10/20/30/40/50.

Chain Lightning

• Now applies an electrocution death to minions it kills.

Lightning Storm

• Increased the buildup time from 0.6s to 0.9s
• Reworded the tooltip to indicate each hit applies a charge.

Detonate Charge

• Reduced the magical damage scaling from 25% to 20%.

Aegis Shield

• Movement speed bonus changed from 25% to 10/15/20/25/30% per rank.

Lightning Storm

• This ability can now be placed anywhere and no longer requires line of sight to the center to place it.

Lightning Storm

• The amount of time that Zeus takes to deploy this ability has been reduced from 1.2s to .6s.

General

• Zeus' basic attacks now utilize a hit progression with a 1/1/.5/.5x timing and damage scale

General

• Zeus's model has undergone visual improvements.

Aegis Shield

• The movement speed buff has been increased from 15% to 25%.

General

• His basic attacks now deal 35 (+25% of your magical power) magical damage.
• Zeus no longer starts with physical power or gains physical power per level.

Overcharge

• Basic attacks against targets with charges deal 30% increased damage per charge.

Chain Lightning

• The cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 10s to 8s.
• The number of arcs on this ability has been changed from 1/2/3/4/5 to 4 at all ranks.
• The base damage has been changed from 70/100/130/160/190 to 45/85/125/165/205.
• The magical power contribution has been reduced from 50% to 40%.

Detonate Charge

• The damage scaling based on the number of charges has been reduced from 1/2.5/4 to 1/2/3.
• When this ability is used on an enemy that has 3 charges, they are also stunned for 1s.

Lightning Storm

• The magical power contribution has been reduced from 70% to 50%.

Aegis Shield

• Protections gained while this ability is active have been increased from 15/20/25/30/35 to 15/25/35/45/55

Aegis Shield

• Gain 15/20/25/30/35 protections.
• Movement speed is increased by 15%.

General

• All of Zeus’ FX have been modified for performance and appearance.

Chain Lightning

• The way that chain lightning passes between targets has been modified. The timing between each target is now consistent, independent of the distance.

Lightning Storm

• This ability was incorrectly dealing physical damage and is now dealing magical damage.