The Smite World Championships may have come and gone a few months ago, but Hi-Rez Studios remains committed to updating the third most popular MOBA experience in the gaming sphere. After the recent release of the god Hou Yi, Smite is going to get the introduction of yet another God to their line-up.
Bellona is the Roman goddess of war. With her humongous sword, she is being billed as the in-your-face, anti-assassin character. Her move-set will feature an ability that “disarms,” or otherwise disables basic attacks for a short period of time, making any unexpected gank or unsuspecting adc who thinks they can take a little punishment in securing a kill regret their decisions immediately. This ability is also long-range, so be prepared to have your safety compromised very fast. A full look at her move-set shows how truly intimidating Smite‘s new god will be.
- Master of War (Passive) – Upon giving or receiving hits from basic attacks, Bellona gains protections and movement speed for a set duration.
- Shield Bash – Bellona dashes forward and bashes with her shield, dealing damage and slowing enemies. Bellona gains a stack of block for each enemy god hit. Block absorbs all damage from a single basic attack and reflects a portion of the damage around her. Bellona then makes basic attacks with a sword and she gains another stack of block.
- Bludgeon – Bellona summons a Hammer and spins, hitting every enemy around her and then smashing forward in an overhand attack. Each enemy god hit in the spin increases the damage of the overhand attack. Bellona now makes basic attacks with her hammer until out of combat. Every Hammer attack hits all enemies in melee range.
- Scourge – Bellona summons a Scourge, dealing damage to all enemies in a line. Enemies hit are Disarmed, and cannot make basic attacks. Bellona now makes basic attacks with a Scourge until out of combat, which has extended range and after a set amount of attacks heals Bellona.
- Eagle’s Rally – Bellona plants a Roman Flag, granting protections and increased physical power to allied gods. Enemies directly under where the flag is placed take damage and are stunned for a short time.
Intimidating indeed. Smite is very good at balancing their gods in a manner that will best benefit the game overall, and having a character that exclusively targets the largely powerful but paper-thin adc and assassin characters of Smite will definitely bring a lot of flexibility to teams that use her. Moreover, from a lore standpoint, Bellona is being billed directly as a Roman god. While many of the Greek gods that are already in Smite are essentially interchangeable with many of the Roman gods (both cultures essentially used the same pantheons as forms of worship, just with a different set of names), Smite has yet to feature a set of gods exclusive to the Roman pantheon. Whether Bellona could still be shoehorned into the Greek pantheon, it’s also possible that she will found the new pantheon all herself, opening up huge opportunities for new characters from new mythology. Seeing a Smite mode that features Roman versus Norse gods will be extremely entertaining.
And can we also just talk about how bad ass Bellona looks? Not to mention that period-accurate armor and the sweet, pink-haired alternate skin. For those who still haven’t jumped into Smite, the introduction of this latest god could bring some big inspiration to try out Smite‘s innovative take on the genre with its fast paced, 3rd person combat.
