ATLANTA – JANUARY 24 – Today, Hi-Rez released the massive Fire Giant Update for third-person action-MOBA SMITE, kicking off Year 10 and uniting with Magic: The Gathering. Along with the new God Surtr, the Conquest mode gets an entirely new map with fresh art and layout, new monsters, structures, objectives, and more for the Season of Monsters, the first of four coming in 2023.
Here are the extensive Fire Giant Update notes: https://www.smitegame.com/news/fire-giant-update-10-1-update-notes/
SMITE has just launched its three-month-long event featuring the ultimate card game Magic: The Gathering. The Crossover announcement earlier this month was met with fantastic enthusiasm as a great number of SMITE players have also been long time fans of the classic CCG.
Five iconic Magic: The Gathering legends have become high-quality SMITE skins. In a dedicated in-game hub, each skin can be purchased either directly for 1200 gems or in a chest for 600 gems. The event also includes FREE rewards for all players and a multitude of cosmetics such as the Power Nine loading frame.
Fiery Chandra Nalaar is Pele, the Polynesian Goddess of volcanoes, while Atraxa is the winged angel of death Thanatos. Karn becomes Atlas and carries his massive Astrolabe as a weapon, an artifact only he can control. As Nu Wa, necromancer and Planeswalker Liliana Vess raises undead puppets bent to her will. Lastly, SMITE players can also become the most talented mind mage in the Multiverse, Jace Beleren, as a skin for Yu Huang.
What’s more, five more MTG legends will travel to this plane with the next update, for a total of 10 playable skins from Magic: The Gathering in SMITE.
Ragnarok approaches. SMITE’s iconic jungle boss since open beta, the Fire Giant Surtr, is now a playable Warrior from the Nordic pantheon. After years of being slain by Gods in pursuit of his power, he finally walks free!
Surtr’s apocalyptic awakening has been captured in this cinematic trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE4zAZwVWBc
Players can also have a look behind the scenes at Surtr’s making with this blog post written by his designers: https://www.smitegame.com/news/surtr-a-closer-look/
Surtr’s kit is exciting and powerful: throw lane minions, summon fiery imps, and become a flaming meteor falling from the heavens. Surtr’s Passive causes his flesh to crack into fragments he can pick up to gain back his health – unless his enemies step on it first and extinguish it. Surtr imbues his blade in the Flames of Muspell, his main destruction tool. With every soul he takes—including minions—the flames’ power increases near-endlessly, making Surtr a force to be reckoned with.
As an embodiment of Ragnarok itself, Surtr’s thirst for vengeance will consume all unless the Gods shut him down fast.
Surtr’s ascent to divinity has brought Ragnarok-level destruction to Conquest, SMITE’s most strategic mode. The Fire Giant Update marks the beginning of the Season of Monsters, first of the four Seasons comprising Year 10. Each Season will introduce sweeping changes to the Conquest Map, plus game-changing mechanics.
The new Season of Monsters design affects the entire Conquest battleground: jungle, lane structure and fortified bases on both sides. The entirely new jungle is home to rogue Cyclops, new buffs, and treasure chests. At its center, Gods can confront the Fire Giant’s gargantuan successor! New ‘Tower Bastions’ structures now strengthen lane towers – but destroying them will give you the edge.
Gameplay-wise, God classes now have stronger identities through class-specific bonus stats – one for each. No fewer than forty-five items have been created, removed, or entirely revamped and the new Shard Relics now provide early game active abilities that encourage aggressive power plays.
Launching with the Season of Monsters, the Battle Pass: Boss Monsters is now live with four terrible foes calling for epic teamfights. These new skins for Kukulkan, Cernunnos, Guan Yu, and Arachne are inspired by the iconic final boss encounters in your favorite RPGs.
Finally, the SMITE Year 10 Pass holds both exclusive instant unlocks and year-long content for all upcoming Gods in 2023. Plus, buy the Year 10 pass to get 1000 Gems and the Calamity Cat Sol Skin right away!
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Press kit: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1N5BKCWTiA8_EBHc91RRleJffRdf76MEv
For media inquiries, assets, and interview requests, please contact:
Henrique Fajardo, PR Specialist – hfajardo@hirezstudios.com
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Magic: The Gathering, its logo, and all characters’ names and distinctive likenesses are property of Wizards of the Coast LLC. ©2023 Wizards.
About SMITE
SMITE is the online Battleground of the Gods, a mythology-themed action game for PC and consoles. Since launching in Europe and North America in March 2014, SMITE has quickly established itself as one of the genre-defining MOBAs and cemented its place in the top 3 with over 35 million players. Themed around gods of mythology and offering a third-person camera and more game modes than any other leading game in its genre, the game provides a unique, action-packed experience that puts the player in the thick of the action. SMITE is free-to-play on PC through Steam and EGS, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4.
For more information on SMITE, visit www.smitegame.com
About Hi-Rez
Based in Alpharetta, Georgia, Hi-Rez is an industry-leading video game publisher and developer at the forefront of the free-to-play, games-as-a-service industry. Hi-Rez’s games have been played by more than 100 million people worldwide across PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, iOS and Android. With three games regularly among the Top 10 free-to-play games on Steam, Hi-Rez is one of the few Western developers to have successfully launched multiple, multi-platform games as a service titles to a large audience. Having won multiple awards and accolades for innovation and technology, Hi-Rez has also been recognised for its company culture, leadership and diversity as an employer.
For more information on Hi-Rez, visit www.hirez.com