The free multiplayer online battle arena game “Smite” developed in 2014 by Hi-Rez Studios is less known as “Dota 2” or “League of Legends’ ‘, but it still has a successful cybersports scene. The prize pool in the Smite World Championship in 2016 was $1 million.
A special feature of this MOBA is that the camera is placed in the third person, that is, behind the hero. This updates and takes the gameplay experience to a new level, allowing players to hide from behind to stage a stealthy attack, as players see the space mostly in front of them. In this article, we take a look at the gameplay of “Smite” and the Smite tournaments. So, the basics you need to know if you want to qualify for the Smite championship as a cyberathlete.
MORE THAN 120 PLAYABLE CHARACTERS
Each gamer plays a mythological character from more than 120 playable Gods and Goddesses from different mythologies. Not all of them are gods: there are also heroes, mythical beings, immortals and deities. So, the Smite conquer arena must be the one place to see King Arthur or Lancelot from the Arthurian Pantheon fighting against Osiris and Horus from the Egyptian Pantheon or Baba Yaga from Slavic Pantheon.Will the beautiful Aphrodite win against the Goddess of Destruction Cali? Or is Hercules less strong than Cthulhu (yes, this character is a powerful ancient deity, if you did not know it!)? Each cyberathlete has a chance to find it out. A playable character has its image, playstyle, strengths, weaknesses and unique weapon.
СONQUER MODE AND SMITE TOURNAMENTS
The game itself has many game modes such as Conquest, Arena, Clash and Assault, as well as different playstyles (Training, Co-Op). All professional Smite tournaments are held in the Conquest mode. It is the default game mode for any MOBA game with a three-lane map and many monsters. In Conquest, all the players form two teams with five players on each team with typical five roles of jungler, hunter (or adc), mid-laner, support and solo-laner. Each army has its defensive towers and is also accompanied by minions (small soldiers with weak attacks), Phoenixes and Gold Titans. Each “lane” of the map is defended by a Phoenix. Areas between “lanes” are called “jungle”, the area with many computer-controlled monsters (harpies and cyclopes) the players also need to destroy to reach the opponent’s towers and Titan and to win.
Each player has his or her own important role in the team: mid-laners play on the middle lane of the game map, defend their team and repel the enemy attacks. Solo-lane primarily kills minions (little warriors of each team who are less strong than Gods). Support players must defend hunters, they also actively move around the map and perform a reconnaissance function. Junglers most often attack enemies, have high mobility and fight against monsters in the “jungle” area. In the tournament, two players on the same team cannot choose the same character.
To win the match the esports team must have its strategy, so the game is not about just running through the map and fighting with all monsters you see. At different stages of the game (early game, middle game and late game) players must clear the “jungle” from monsters, and attack opponents in a single or team mode. In the last stage of the game, teams fight each other and besiege alien towers of the first and second types and phoenixes, as well as a fire giant. Importantly, the game has a system of different rewards and bonuses called “buffs”. Players in a team warn each other about new buffs, and new enemies, and together build different strategies to defeat the enemy.
SMITE WORLD TOURNAMENTS
To qualify for the most important offline Smite tournament, Smite World Championship players must first take part in different online competitions and qualify for the Smite Pro League. And the best eight teams are invited to compete in the Smite World Championship and win the main prize. However, it takes progamers many hours, weeks and months to reach this level. All in all, the Smite esports scene is getting more and more popular because of the game graphics and variability of game options.
