Image via Hi-Rez Studios

The Jade Emperor arrives in Smite’s 9.4 update – Full patch notes

Prepare the jade throne.

Zack Palm

Published: Apr 13, 2022 02:12 pm

Yu Huang, the Jade Emperor, is making their debut to Smite’s 9.4 update. The Jade Emperor will be a mage, and you’ll be able to start playing as him starting on April 19 following the official Smite Tuesday update.

Smite 9.4 Update Patch Notes

All Jade Emperor abilities

Master of the Dao

Yu Huang attunes himself to the Dao, giving his Basic Attacks and Abilities additional effects. He gains a stack of Dao every 15s. He may also gain a stack by hitting an enemy after not taking or dealing damage for 3s. Once he has 6 or more stacks, Yu Huang becomes Attuned, allowing his Basic Attacks to chain to one additional enemy.
- Chain Basic Attack Damage: 75%
- Attunement Cost: 6 Dao
- Max Stacks: 12 Dao

Flames of the Phoenix

Yu Huang conjures four cinders of the phoenix, spreading them in an X shape. The cinders rush inward, dealing damage once as they travel. When the cinders meet, they explode in a field of flames that persists for 3s, burning enemies inside. If Yu Huang is Attuned, when the cinders explode, all enemies in the area have their Magical Protections reduced.
- Cinder Damage: 15/25/35/45/55 (+15% of your Magical Power)
- Initial Damage: 70/100/130/160/190 (+45% of your Magical Power)
- Burn Damage: 5/6/7/8/9 (+5% of your Magical Power) every 0.5s
- Burn Duration: 2s
- Protection Reduction: 4/6/8/10/12 for 3s
- Cost: 60/65/70/75/80
- Cooldown: 11/10.5/10/9.5/9s

Dao Cultivation

Yu Huang begins cultivating his Dao before firing a projectile that damages and slows enemies it passes through. As it travels, it leaves behind a trail that explodes, damaging and rooting all enemies. This ability can be fired early to deal 60% of its damage, gaining additional damage up to 1s. Yu Huang can also continue charging up to 3s to earn more Dao on firing.
- Projectile Damage: 50/70/90/110/130 (+35% of your Magical Power)
- AoE Damage: 50/95/140/185/230 (+50% of your Magical Power)
- Slow: 20% for 1s
- Root Duration: 1s
- Max Dao Gain: 6
- Cost: 60/65/70/75/80
- Cooldown: 13s

Celestial Flight

Yu Huang calls forth the Pearl Dragon from beneath him, banishing himself into the air and becoming untargetable. He then gracefully floats back down to the ground in a controlled flight, damaging enemies where he lands. While Yu Huang is floating, he may refire this ability to increase his downward momentum, causing him to fall faster. If Yu Huang is Attuned, the Pearl Dragon follows him as he descends, knocking back any enemies beneath him.
- Damage: 70/120/170/220/270 (+50% of your Magical Power)
- Movement Speed: 15%
- Cost: 70
- Cooldown: 20s

Dueling Dragons

Yu Huang manifests a huge surge of dragon-shaped energy, becoming CC immune and summoning the Pearl Dragon to oppose him. He then has 3s to aim his dragon of energy toward the Pearl Dragon, who will charge directly at it. Both dragons damage and push enemies caught in the blast. If the dragons collide, a damaging explosion occurs in the area. If Yu Huang is Attuned, the width of the dragons is increased by 50%.
- Push Damage: 150/225/300/375/450 (+50% of your Magical Power)
- Explosion Damage: 100/140/180/220/260 (+45% of your Magical Power)
- Cost: 100
- Cooldown: 100s

Update Release Schedule

April 19 – The Jade Emperor Update

Yu Huang – The Jade Emperor
New Heavenly Light Skins
Zeus DLC

May 3 – 9.4 Bonus Update

New Heavenly Light Skins
More info coming soon!

May 5 – Super Shredder Prime Gaming Release

Super Shredder available via Prime Gaming

Bug Fixes

UI

Fixed an issue where players audio settings would be automatically lowered at unintended times
Fixed an issue where PC players were unable to copy/cut/paste text within the game UI
Fixed an issue where some players ranked matches were not being properly counted specifically only for god leaderboard progress
Fixed an issue where the Welcome Pass would display the incorrect end date for some players
Fixed an issue where all 6 Conquest Role Icons looked like the “Fill” Icon
Localization
- Fixed a variety of text issues across the game for the Spanish Language
  - Fixed spacing, spelling, and grammar issues on multiple items
    - Infused Sigil, Warlock’s Staff, Heartseeker, Emperor’s Armor, Staff of Myrddin, Charon’s Coin, Spirit Robe
  - Fixed spacing, spelling, and grammar issues on multiple Gods
    - Serqet, Pele, Bacchus, Ravana, Set, Odin
  - Fixed an issue where Zeus’ Detonate ability would remain in English
Custom Games
- All Pick and Enemy Pick Options will now work as intended

God Builder
- Fixed an issue where god abilities would show up as undefined/blank text
- Fixed an issue where the consumable amount variable was not working
- Fixed an issue where Ratatoskr could not build his acorns through the god builder

General Gameplay

Fixed an issue with “Account Boosters” not providing the proper bonuses

Gods

Hera
- Fixed an issue on Conquest where Hera’s Polymorph would sometimes turn enemies invisible
Olorun
- Overflowing Divinity
  - Updated text to state: Hitting the same Enemy deals 20% less damage each time, capped at 90% reduction.
Tiamat
- Primordial Onslaught

Updated text to state: Hitting the same Enemy deals 15% less damage each time, capped at 70% reduction.
Chang’e
- Fixed an issue where activating a vision shard at level 12 would open the item store
Achilles
- Fixed an issue where his passive meter would display incorrect self buff stats
Shiva
- Fixed an issue where Shiva could dash inside of structures then fall through the map
Ne Zha
- Fixed an issue where the petals on his passive meter were not being displayed
Charybdis
- Fixed an issue where Charybdis would be invisible if she transformed into her whirlpool form at specific distances from her opponents
Atlas
- Fixed an issue where he could pull Tsukuyomi to him at unintended times
Mercury
- Fixed an issue where his ultimate could trigger some item effects from activating and canceling the charge-up

Items

Berserkers Shield
- This item will now auto-activate at low hp when it comes off cooldown, to be more consistent with similar items like Asi
Aegis of Judgment
- This Relic will no longer deal damage to structures
Seer of the Jungle
- Fixed an issue where Towers and Phoenixes would not target an invisible God with Seer of the Jungle passive activated
Magic Shell Relics
- Fixed an issue where Shell Relics were providing reduced basic attack damage buff for longer than intended

BALANCE LIVE WITH THE 9.4 UPDATE – APRIL19

Game Modes: Conquest

These first two Conquest changes are subtle, but have a lot of potential to create change. The goal of these changes are to make Duo Lane less volatile, and to slow down the Gold and XP gain of Mid and Jungle. We think that shifting XP away from Mid/Jungle and into the hands of Carry/Support at an earlier time in the match will help move us toward both goals simultaneously. We are also decreasing the total team XP awarded by the Obelisk. This will slow down the pace of the game and decrease the snowball factor. Conquest will also be seeing more significant changes in future updates.
Support Buff Camp
- Increased Base XP Reward of Support Buff Holder from 45 to 90
- Increased Base Gold Reward of Support Buff Holder from 24 to 44
Back Harpy Camp (Duo Side)
- Removed an Elder Harpy from Back Left Harpy camp
- This camp will no longer be Marked by the Obelisk
Obelisk
- Decreased Team XP gained per offering from 25 to 15

The Nerf Update

We hinted at this type of update in the previous update notes as well as in some extra communications from Design Director Ajax, and now the moment has arrived! This update will be a Nerf Update – meaning that the entirety of the God and Item balance sections will be focusing only on nerfs!
The SMITE community has been vocal about damage being too powerful and too present in SMITE and this update will be taking a major step to address that. In the previous update we looked at the two most specific meta sources of burst damage – Mage Penetration and Berserker’s Shield. Those changes were just the beginning though. This update features a multitude of nerfs across many of the top Gods and Items to continue this effort.
The damage topic is often described as a “game wide” issue – but changes have to be implemented specifically across various gods and items, so the process inevitably requires us to work through one god or item at a time. When going through that process it made the most sense to start by nerfing the most powerful and highly prioritized gods and items in the game. Applying this many changes all at once could have far reaching and unpredictable results, but we saw the clear community desire for it. We think we have formulated a cautious and consistent plan to execute this large amount of nerfs in a single update.
We are eager to hear feedback and to monitor game data from this update, and we are open to doing more nerf passes like this in the future if necessary.

Goals
- Nerf a large amount of top performing gods and items
- Achieve a net decrease of damage in SMITE through these nerfs
- Make changes that will be felt in all game modes
- Do not buff. Even though we felt like there were some good options, buffs will be saved for future updates
God and Item Selection
- Evaluate the highest pick/ban rate, purchase rate
- Compare that with the highest damage output, win%, and community sentiment
- Consider Conquest data as highest priority but compare with non conquest modes too
- Nerf God damage output wherever possible or things that contribute directly to damage like self buffs and cooldowns
- Nerf Item Physical or Magical Power whenever possible or things that contribute to damage like attack speed or bonus damage
Exceptions
- Do not nerf gods or items who are already perceived as weak (low pick/ban rate or low win%) even if they have high damage or high power
- There are a few defensive nerfs to gods as we felt that the god needed nerfs but damage wasn’t as much of a factor for them
- There are a few item protection nerfs to make sure we don’t shift the game too much in favor of tanks
- 2 Reworks
  - These do not tie directly into the goals of the nerf patch, but were already in progress from multiple departments when balance work on this patch began.
  - Both of these changes felt like meaningful quality of life improvements that people would be excited to play with, so we kept them in the update. Both are shifts with considerable nerfs and buffs combined in order to achieve specific gameplay goals.
    - Erlang Shen
      - Erlang is losing an entire form of CC but gaining some new features to help him better perform in the solo lane or duo lane.
    - Archmage’s Gem
      - The item is getting a long quested buff to make it feel better to use, but also seeing a damage nerf at the same time.
Final Counts
- 29 Gods Nerfed (including bonus)
- 37 Items Nerfed
- 8 Relics Nerfed (2 Relics, 4 Upgrade States Each)
- 2 Reworks

General

Another common point of discussion is Crowd Control. There is a game wide rule that impacts the strength of CC chains in SMITE, so we can effectively nerf CC game wide with a single set of adjustments.
Diminishing Returns (DR) is a concept applied in many multiplayer games, and it is always active and present in SMITE. DR causes gods to be CC’d for a shorter duration than the ability specifies if and only if they have been affected by another CC effect within the last 15 seconds.
This weakens the overall effect of “CC chains” in which multiple gods or abilities can work together to keep a single opponent locked down for a long period of time. If you get stunned, then stunned again, the 2nd one will be affected by DR and thus be shorter. There are some exceptions like Knock-ups and Channeled effects like Grabs – these are not reduced but do apply DR to reduce the duration of subsequent CC effects.
We are open to addressing CC further by nerfing the duration of the effects on specific god kits in the future. We are also open to revisiting the CC and DR rules in general to make this system more clearly communicated and consistent. Those possibilities will be decided upon at a later date depending on the data and feedback from this update.

Increased CC duration reduction from 33% to 40% per stack
- Max 2 stacks (unchanged)
Decreased the CC duration minimum from 0.5s to 0.4s
- CC duration cannot be reduced to lower than 0.4s through DR’s effect

Items

This is a long list of item nerfs and we aren’t sure if it’s worth it to individually explain why each one was changed. In general, all of these item changes follow the logic defined above. These items are the most popular or most powerful within their archetypes, and thus will be nerfed. Almost all class/role archetypes were nerfed in some way, this might create new imbalances based on which class/role is affected more heavily by these nerfs, and it will be a big priority in the next update to adjust more items and gods with the primary goal of making sure all roles continue to feel equally flexible and powerful.

Belt of Frenzy

Decreased Damage Buff from 15% to 10%

Greater Belt of Frenzy

Decreased Damage Buff from 15% to 10%

Belt of Insatiable Hunger

Decreased Damage Buff from 15% to 10%

Belt of the Berserker

Decreased Damage Buff from 25% to 20%

Bracer of Radiance

Decreased Power Buff from 15% to 10%

Greater Bracer of Radiance

Decreased Power Buff from 15% to 10%

Bracer of Brilliance

Decreased Power Buff from 20% to 15%

Bracer of Illumination

Decreased Power Buff from 15% to 10%

Chronos Pendant

Decreased Magical Power from 100 to 90

Rod of Tahuti

Decreased Magical Power from 140 to 120

Calamitous Rad of Tahuti

Decreased Magical Power from 140 to 120

Nimble Rod of Tahuti

Decreased Magical Power from 140 to 120

Divine Ruin

Decreased Magical Power of 110 to 100

Spear of Desolation

Decreased Magical Power from 120 to 110

Telkhines Ring

Decreased Attack Speed from 25% to 20%
Decreased passive bonus damage from 15% to 10%

Ring of Hecate

Decreased Magical Power from 90 to 80
Decreased Attack Speed from 25% to 20%

Caduceus Shield

Decreased Physical Power from 30 to 25

Breastplate of Valor

Decreased Physical Protection from 65 to 55

Breastplate of Determination

Decreased Physical Protection from 65 to 55

Breastplate of Vigilance

Decreased Physical Protection from 65 to 55

Ancile

Decreased Physical Power from 50 to 40

Mystical Mail

Decreased Passive Base damage from 25 to 20

Hide of the Nemean Lion

Nemean Block stacks now prevent 50% of basic attack damage instead of the full 100%

The Crusher

Decreased Attack Speed from 15% to 10%

Hydra’s Lament

Decreased Bonus damage scaling from 40% to 35%

Jotunn’s Wrath

Decreased Physical Power from 45 to 40

Jotunn’s Ferocity

Decreased Physical Power from 45 to 40

Jotunn’s Vigor

Decreased Physical Power from 45 to 40

Serrated Edge

Decreased Physical Power from 35 to 30
Decreased passive Physical Power from 10 to 8 per stack

Asi

Decreased Physical Lifesteal from 20% to 15%

Atalanta’s Bow

Decreased Attack Speed from 25% to 20%

Wind Demon

Decreased passive duration from 5s to 4s

Deathbringer

Decreased Physical Power from 55 to 50

Envenomed Deathbringer

Decreased Physical Power from 55 to 50

Malicious Deathbringer

Decreased Physical Power from 55 to 50

Gauntlet of Thebes

Decreased base Health provided from 300 to 250
- Affects Evolved item as well

Pridwen

Decreased Shield health scaling earned Protections from items from 100% to 90%

Sovereignty

Decreased Physical Protection from 45 to 40

Heartward Amulet

Decreased Magical Protections provided from passive aura from 20 to 15

Amulet of Silence

Decreased Magical Protections provided from passive aura from 20 to 15

Amulet of the Stronghold

Decreased Magical Protections provided from passive aura from 20 to 15

Celestial Legion Helm

Decreased Magical Power from 80 to 70
Increased time taken to gain stacks from 2s to 3s
Increased time after being hit by Physical Damage to gain a stack from 2s to 3s

Vampiric Shroud

Decreased Magical Power from 30 to 20

Mantle of Discord

Decreased Physical Protection from 60 to 55
Decreased Magical Protections from 60 to 55
Increased Cooldown of the Passive Effect from 90s to 110s

Rework: Archmage’s Gem

This item no longer procs and consume the stacks unless a god is successfully damaged
Decreased Scaling per stack from 1.5% to 1% (decreased total scaling from 30% to 20%)

Gods

It is easier to identify the top performers for gods, and god changes have much less ripple effect on the rest of the game than item changes do. With these changes we expect that some nerfed gods will continue to remain at the top of the meta, and then more nerfs will be planned for future updates for them. We also expect some number of new gods to find new room for viability, and those gods will be individually evaluated to determine their nerf status.

Tiamat

PRIMORDIAL ONSLAUGHT

Decreased Base Damage per shot from 80/90/90/100/100 to 80/85/85/90/90

Agni

COMBUSTION

Decreased Magical Power Scaling from 10% to 8%

RAIN FIRE

Decreased Base Damage from 140/180/220/260/300 To 120/160/200/240/280
Decreased Magical Power Scaling from 70% to 65%

Persephone

HARVEST

Decreased Explosion damage
- Decreased Magical Power Scaling from 80% to 70%
Decreased Bite damage
- Decreased Magical Power Scaling from 35% to 30%

GRASP OF DEATH

This ability no longer applies any attack speed reduction to the caged target

Sol

STELLAR BURST

Decreased base damage from 40/70/100/130/160 to 40/65/90/115/140

SUPERNOVA

Decreased Magical Power Scaling from 50% to 45% per hit

Thoth

HIEROGLYPHIC ASSAULT

Decreased damage increase on successfully hitting a god from 20% to 15% per shot
Decreased the cooldown reduction on successfully hitting a god from 1s to 0.5s per shot

FINAL JUDGEMENT

Decreased Magical Power Scaling from 120% to 115%

Zeus

CHAIN LIGHTNING

Decreased Base Damage from 40/70/100/130/160 to 30/60/90/120/150
Decreased Slow from 30% to 20%

DETONATE CHARGE

Decreased Base Damage from 50/80/110/140/170 to 40/70/100/130/160

Achilles

GIFT OF THE GODS

Decreased Protection bonus per level from 2 to 1.5
Decreased Physical Power bonus per level from 2 to 1.5

SHIELD OF ACHILLES

Decreased long range damage from 75% to 70%
- This affects base and scaling damage

Chaac

RAIN DANCE

Decreased his self healing Physical Power scaling from 15% to 10% per tick

STORM CALL

Increased Cooldown from 75s to 90s

Gilgamesh

SUN-FORGED SCIMITAR

Decreased base buff duration from 4s to 3s
Decreased maximum buff duration from 7s to 6s
- (Which decreases the total possible duration of this effect from 11s to 9s)
Decreased bonus damage from 3% to 2.5% of his max health per hit

WINDS OF SHAMASH

Decreased Binding Damage Physical Power scaling from 60% to 50%
Decreased Wind Wall Slow from 50% to 40%

Mulan

CROSS STRIKE

Decreased Physical Power scaling from 35% to 30% per hit

SPEAR THRUST

Decreased Bonus Damage when hitting the same target with both hits from Spear Thrust from 20/35/50/65/80 to 20/30/40/50/60
Decreased Physical Power scaling when hitting the same target with both hits from Spear Thrust from 15% to 10%

Shiva

PILLAR OF DAWN

This ability is now immune to all CC except stuns, as opposed to being entirely CC immune. Stuns will interrupt Shiva out of this ability if he is hit at any time during its 3 phases.

Bellona

SHIELD BASH

Decreased Slow from 15/20/25/30/35% to 10/12.5/15/17.5/20%

BLUDGEON

Decreased Spin Base Damage from 45/75/105/135/165 to 35/65/95/125/155

Camazotz

BAT OUT OF HELL

Decreased Base Damage from 100/140/180/220/260 to 100/135/170/205/240 per hit

Arachne

PREDATOR

Decreased Arachne’s Basic Attack Damage Increase from 1.5% to 1.25% for every 5% of a target’s missing Health.

VENOMOUS BITE

Decreased Physical Power Scaling from 10% to 8% per tick

Cliodhna

VENOMOUS BITE

Decreased Physical Power Scaling from 10% to 8% per tick

LURCHING CLAW

Decreased Claw Damage Physical Power Scaling from 85% to 80%

TEARING THE VEIL

Decreased Opening Damage Physical Power Scaling from 70% to 60%

Loki

BEHIND YOU!

Decreased Bonus Damage from 20% to 15% on basic attacks that hit from behind

VANISH

Decreased Physical Power Scaling from 25% to 20% per tick

Tsukuyomi

DARK MOON SHURIKEN

Increased Cooldown from 10s to 12s

SILVER MOON CALTROPS

Decreased Bonus Damage Physical Power Scaling from 40% to 30% on the ranged follow-up attack

Ah Muzen Cab

SWARM

Decreased Physical Power Scaling from 80% to 75%

STINGER

Decreased Physical Power Scaling from 110% to 100%
Decreased Slow from 20/22.5/25/27.5/30% to 20% at all ranks

Apollo

ACROSS THE SKY

Decreased Physical Power Scaling from 30% to 25% per tick

Hou Yi

MARK OF THE GOLDEN CROW

Decreased Damage Increase provided from 3/4/5/6/7% to 2/3/4/5/6%

Izanami

SICKLE STORM

Decreased Attack Speed from 55/60/65/70/75% to 45/50/55/60/65%

Medusa

VIPER SHOT

Decreased Attack Speed from 40/50/60/70/80% to 40/45/50/55/60%
Decreased Base Damage from 15/20/25/30/35 to 10/15/20/25/30
- Prev Total 180/240/300/360/420 (3 ticks * 4 shots)
- New Total 120/180/240/300/360 (3 ticks * 4 shots)

LACERATE

Decreased Physical Power Scaling from 80% to 70%
Decreased Physical Power Scaling from 80% to 70%

Artio

ENERGY SURGE

Decreased Base Damage on Druid Stance from 80/110/140/170/200 to 60/95/130/165/200

HEAVY CHARGE

Decreased Base Damage on Bear Stance from 70/120/170/220/270 to 65/110/155/200/245

Atlas

KINETIC CHARGE

Decreased Base Damage from 80/135/190/245/300 to 80/130/180/230/280
Decreased Magical Power Scaling from 45% to 40%

Ares

SHACKLES

Decreased God Damage from 25/45/65/85/105 to 20/40/60/80/100 per tick

Bacchus

NTOXICATE

Decreased Base Damage from 250/325/400/475/550 to 230/300/370/440/510
Decreased Magical Power Scaling from 70% to 60%

Cabrakan

SEISMIC CRUSH

Decreased Base Damage from 100/145/190/235/280 to 80/125/170/215/260

TECTONIC SHIFT

Decreased Magical Power Scaling from 70% to 60%

Cerberus

PARALYZING SPIT

Decreased Base Damage from 50/80/110/140/170 to 40/70/100/130/160
- Decreased by 28 damage if hit by all 4 hits on all ranks

God Rework: Erlang Shen

HOWLING CELESTIAL DOG

Reduced damage from 15% to 7.5% of Erlang Shen’s basic attack damage
Increased damage from 1% to 1.75% of target’s max health

SPOT WEAKNESS

Decreased Bonus Damage per hit from 15/27/39/51/63 (+10% of your Physical Power) To 12/22/32/42/52 (+5% of your Physical Power)
Erlang Shen now gains 4/8/12/16/20% Physical lifesteal while this ability is active
Erlang Shen now applies a stacking debuff to enemy gods hit by this ability which reduces their damage output by 3/4/5/6/7% per stack, stacking up to 3 times. Stacks last 3s.
- 9/12/15/18/21% damage reduction max

72 TRANSFORMATIONS

Erlang Shen is now knock up and slow immune while he is transformed into either animal
Mink form
- Erlang Shen now gains 15% Movement Speed for 4s after the dash completes
Turtle form
- This ability no longer knocks enemies up
- Shield health changed from 70/110/150/190/230 to 50/100/150/200/250 (+75% total protections from items and abilities)

9 TURNS BLESSING

Increased Damage Mitigation from 10/11.25/12.5/13.75/15% to 10/12.5/15/17.5/20%

New Skin Voice Actors

Yu Huang: Cory Yee
Bionic Demon Gilgamesh: Kyle Chapple
Shadow Bloom Persephone: Bryarly Bishop
Crocfather Sobek: Dave Fennoy
Honorable Machina Tyr: Arthur Romeo Atlas
Almighty Archon Zeus: Jeffrey Hunt
The Magic Dragon Tiamat: Tamara Ryan
Haunted Nightmare Chernobog: Blythe Melin
Demon Puncher Mercury: Chase Kloza
Abyssal Slayer Anhur: John Doyle

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