Buffing & Nerfing Decisions - Ways Gods Can Be Adjusted

Buffing & Nerfing

This will likely be TL;DR for most, but was something on my mind. Specifically, I just want to discuss the various options Hi-Rez has when considering making adjustments to existing gods in the sake of better "balance." If you don't always consider all of these components, it may also just be a good piece of education for you, to help you better understand mechanics of the game. I don't think I could think of all of the situations, so this is just an overview. Also understand that Hi-Rez bases their decisions mostly on how they affect the Conquest mode, which is why some gods feel more "broken" in alternate modes.

There are so many variables in the game, that making proper adjustments is a difficult task. Each god's kit is different, how the various gods interact is different, and these have to be considered, as making a minor change to one god may more strongly affect their effectiveness against another god.

Making adjustments to items is also something that isn't considered much past face value...most people just consider an item adjustment and say "oh, it's a minor nerf, but no big deal" etc...but these can have huge effects on specific gods...e.g. Qin's Sais losing 1% damage on its passive. In this discussion, I won't be going into item adjustments, because that's a bigger project with even more variables.

I'll mostly use the skill-set of our beloved Neith to discuss existing stats and how they might be adjusted, as she will be seeing a bit of a buff in Patch 4.10, much to the dismay of our friend Bernardozomer. She is a good example of a strong early-game god with high (and easily applied) crowd control and sustain. General opinion is that her relative "strength" decreases the longer a match goes.

You may also want to reference her Wiki page for more complete details about her stats and kit.

I'll tackle things by stat categories.

God: Base Stats

Summary: These stats incorporate all the values that are affected by level. The majority of these stats, including total health, total mana, basic attack damage, # of basic attacks/second, and HP5/MP5 regeneration increase with each level gained. Other stats, like physical and magical protections, may or may not change...it depends on the god.

Adjustments: These stats usually aren't adjusted much. Hi-Rez may give certain stats a minor nudge here and there, such as a slight adjustment to base health or mana pool, if they see that a god struggles or is a bit too powerful in the early game, independent of items.

Abilities: Type

This is something that always, always needs to be considered. What type of ability is it?

• Does it provide sustain? (How much? This may determine if a god needs a lifesteal item or not, and at which point of a match)
  
  
• Is it a wave-clear ability that can hit multiple minions? (This can have a huge effect...base power and scaling are usual adjustments here)
  
  
• Is it an initiation/escape ability? (Cooldown usually has the biggest effect here)
  
  
• Is it single-target or AOE? How large is the AOE? Further to this, does it have CC effects? (The more gods it can easily effect at one time, the more careful they should be with adjustments)

Abilities: Base Damage

Summary: This stat is about as straightforward as it gets. This is the general damage the ability will do, before the consideration of your offensive items (power/penetration), the enemy's protection items, or minion damage mitigation (based on duration of the match). Base damage is especially important for gods that don't normally build many items containing power, e.g. tanks.

Let's use Neith's Spirit Arrow as an example. The base damage of the ability is 90/155/220/285/350. *NOTE* I won't be talking about other aspects of the ability here...that will be considered as an example at the end of this post.

Adjustments: Base damage can be changed in various ways, depending on the effect they want.

• Starting Damage: Change to starting value, no change to end value. E.g. if they feel the ability is too strong early because she easily out-clears most other gods in her normal role, they may make a starting adjustment. New base damage might be 70/140/210/280/350. See here that 20 less damage to all minions at level 1 could have a huge effect on her clear speed in the early game.
  
  
• End Damage: Change to end value, no change to beginning value. E.g. if they feel Neith drops off too much in effectiveness in the late game, they may consider increasing this damage. New base damage might be 90/165/240/315/390. 40 extra damage with the ability at level 5 might not be all that much, but Broken Weave (last section) will also play a role, so 40 damage could really end up being double that.
  
  
• Across the board: Both beginning and ending values can be changed, if they want to give an overall buff or nerf to the ability (e.g. lower overall) or if they want the ability to have a greater effect the more it's leveled (lower beginning, higher end).

Abilities: Scaling

Summary: Scaling is a stat that is directly and specifically affected by power gained from items. This stat will obviously have a larger effect on gods that build more offensively, choosing multiple items with power. It will also have a larger effect as the god builds more and more offensive items, meaning it's a stat that usually has a larger effect the longer a match lasts. Scaling also needs to be considered by how many ticks of damage an ability does...is it a 1-hit wonder? Or is it something like Anubis' Death Gaze, which ticks up to 30 times? (15% scaling doesn't seem like much until it hits 30 times, totaling 450%!!!)

Let's stay with Neith's Spirit Arrow for the time being. The scaling on this ability is 90%, and the ability hits once. (Still not considering her situational Broken Weave effect)

Adjustments: This is pretty straightforward. Increase the % for higher damage as more damage items are built. Decrease for lower damage. As an example, let's say Neith has 200 power from items, and Spirit Arrow is at level 5, dealing base damage of 350. This ability would now do 530 damage (before mitigations from protection items and penetration effects are calculated).

If the scaling, on the other hand, was only 30%, the ability would only do 410 damage (this is 120 less damage than at 90% scaling!). It's definitely good to pay attention to a god's scaling...it can be a helpful determination on how the god is best built. Abilities with low scaling usually rely mostly on base damage, which can mean that penetration items are a better option, while high scaling abilities can mean building power is a priority.

Abilities: Cooldown

Summary: This is a straightforward stat. How often do you want the ability to be available, back to back? Considerations should be given for the type of ability...if it's an escape, adjusting cooldown can change how the player needs to engage.

Let's look at Neith's Back Flip. We'll ignore the Broken Weave effect for now, and just consider escape. Although it can deal damage, it's used more for setting up weaves and for creating distance (escape). *NOTE* With regard to the damage...since it's more used for escape, the buff she received in Patch 4.10 for this isn't really all that big of a deal.

Adjustments: There are two types of CD. Neith only has static CD...meaning no matter the level, the CD (before CDR items are considered) is the same. Other gods' abilities may have decreasing CD as the ability is leveled, giving some additional incentive to leveling the ability.

Adjusting CD on a damaging ability can affect how much they can harass enemies while laning. Can they only get 1 activation off between minion waves? Or can they use it multiple times to deal poke damage?

Adjusting CD on an escape ability, on the other hand, may dictate how aggressive a god can be overall. When the ability is available to use, you can engage with some measure of confidence. However, once it's used, if it has a fairly long CD ( Back Flip has a 15 second CD), they may need to play much more conservatively until it's back up.

Other types of abilities, such as lifesteal or other health increases (e.g. Neith's Unravel), enhance a god's ability to stay out longer, heal up damage, etc., and

So, CD adjustments need to consider the general playstyle of a god. If Thoth is showing an ability to be easily aggressive and can always poke poke poke (he has a short CD on his more damaging abilities with good range), Hi-Rez can choose to nerf his Evade and Punish by increasing its CD. This would give enemies the option to be aggressive, possibly forcing him to use his escape early to give themselves some breathing room to finish minion waves while he has to hang back or risk being ganked.

Abilities: Cost

Summary: How much does the ability cost to use? Some abilities have static costs no matter the level (e.g. Unravel), while many others have increasing costs the higher the level. Costs often have a larger effect on the early game, when players don't have large base mana pools or items (like Transcendence) that increase total mana.

Adjustments: Consideration always needs to be given to how often abilities have to be used, and how long the CD is for said abilities. If a god has a weak early game, and has to consistently use 2 of their 3 regular abilities to clear a wave, lower mana costs to use those abilities can help offset that weakness, as an alternative to increasing power, if they feel the damage is in a good place.

On the other hand, increasing costs can make it vital for the player to be wiser regarding when to use abilities, making it more of a skill and awareness-based function. Instead of just blasting abilities whenever they're up, maybe they need to get in more pokes and wait for the right moment to fully commit.

Abilities: Crowd Control Duration

Summary: Crowd control is rampant in SMITE, and getting hit by an ability with CC can spell your death, or render you ineffective at key moments of a teamfight. There are many different types of CC, ranging from more intrusive HARD CC like stuns and knockups, to lower restriction, soft CC like slows.

Type of CC, as well as how many teammates/enemies it can affect, should be strongly considered when making adjustments to an ability. Let's take a look at 2 of Neith's abilities...

• World Weaver is a hard CC ult ability (stun) which only affects one target. A stun is a very effective type of CC...it fully prevents a god from acting for the duration of the ability, and can interrupt a god in the middle of a dash or channeled ability.
  
  
• Spirit Arrow, a soft CC ability (root) that can affect multiple targets (especially when combined with Broken Weave). Roots prevent an enemy from walking, while still allowing them to use basic attacks and abilities, if they are available.

Adjustments: Let's start with Neith's World Weaver. Previous to Patch 4.10, besides the damage, it provides an increasing duration stun of 1.1 / 1.2 / 1.3 / 1.4 / 1.5 seconds. When Patch 4.10 is implemented, it will have a straight 1.5 seconds, no matter the level.

Changing this ability to a static 1.5 seconds no matter the level isn't all that big of a deal in this case, since it's an ult with a long CD. 0.4 seconds at level 1 is relatively small, and I'd argue that that amount of time isn't usually going to be the difference between life and death. Hi-Rez explained for this adjustment that they saw that she was falling out of use, and so were looking for minor ways to make her a more enticing pick, without greatly affecting her kit.

But let's consider if they were to have adjusted her other CC ability instead. If they make an adjustment to her Spirit Arrow, they need to consider its significantly lower CD (compared to the ult), as well as how it interacts as an AOE ability when contacting a Broken Weave. Granted, roots aren't nearly as powerful as stuns, but when they affect multiple gods (for up to 2 seconds!), they can make a difference in a teamfight.

As such, in this case, I'd argue that the World Weaver adjustment is fairly minor, and a better choice than if they were to increase the CC from Spirit Arrow. (The necessity of this buff is another topic, lol)

Overall example: Broken Weave + Spirit Arrow

Summary: Alright, let's consider all of the stats... Spirit Arrow, by itself, does a max of 350 base damage at level 5, with 90% scaling and a 15 second CD. It is a line projectile that can pass through multiple enemies until it reaches max range, making it a perfect wave-clear ability in the early game, and a functional disruption ability anytime. It roots any enemies hit for up to 2 seconds.

When combined with Broken Weave, it not only maintains its projectile status until it reaches the weave, but when it actually contacts it, it turns into a fair-sized circular AOE (30 unit radius) that not only damages and roots enemies in it, it DOUBLES the total damage output for all effected enemies.

Before mitigations, of course, let's go back and say that Neith has 200 power from items. 350 base power + 90% scaling = 530 damage. Combined with Broken Weave, it deals a whopping 1,060 damage, out of a single, non-ult ability!

What does this all mean?

For her item choices, even though she's a hunter, Neith doesn't have any attack speed steroids or other enhancements to her basic attacks. Thus, she wants to build with high power and pen to deal significant burst damage, rather than sustained damage via basic attacks. Items like Transcendence, Titan's Bane, and Brawler's Beat Stick are all common choices.

For any adjustments (nerfs or buffs) that Hi-Rez would consider for Spirit Arrow, they need to consider all ramifications. She's considered an early/mid-game god, and they don't really plan on changing this much.

• If they want to change her late game effectiveness, they would probably consider increasing scaling before other things.
  
  
• If they wanted to change her early game effectiveness, they might tweak the starting (base) damage.
  
  
• If they felt she was able to poke too often in the early game, they might increase mana cost or increase CD.
  
  
• If they felt the ability was affecting teamfights too much, they might increase the CD or decrease the root duration of Spirit Arrow.

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In the end, since they obviously felt the need to address Neith being a less preferred pick, minor tweaks to her Back Flip's damage and making her stun duration a consistent 1.5 seconds weren't bad choices. The flip's damage is situational (again, often used purely for escape or dropping a Broken Weave rather than as a damage source), and the ult's stun's greatest difference being 0.4 seconds at level 1 is arguably minor.

Granted, she probably didn't even need these changes, but it's probably better than them messing with her other abilities.

SOOOOOOOOOOO...that was...longer than I expected. I hope this has been informative (and accurate overall), and would love to hear thoughts. If you didn't consider these things much before, now you can see how many different factors should go into the consideration of god tweaks. And this doesn't even TOUCH upon how items can also have various effects for different gods, or how gods interact our counter others. Whew!

So you made an essay to tell me that I shouldn't be mad...

I still hate her.

No, actually I made an essay to tell you that you could be a lot madder than you are. XD But did I do a decent job?

Yes, you did.

I like your 4 lines at the end more then the part of it in base damage and scalings.

As buffing the base damage effects early game far more then late game. doesn't matter if the buff the starting point of the base damage or the scaling of the base damage (the amount it goes up each lvl)

after that it's a great essay of how changing stuff on gods work.

Items is a whole different story because you hit multiple things, mostly play styles and their specific gods (cause core items)

Now you remembered me that time they gave Scylla's Crush 100% scaling "to help her early game", lol. I'm glad it didn't go through PTS.

Thanks Dev!

You were not kidding that this write up was long! But overall, you provide a good analysis on what should be considered when Gods get buffed or nerfed, things I wouldn't even consider taking into account.

With that in mind I agree with Bernardo. I still hate her, but this buff could be way worse and make her a more consistent pick again. Granted, just with any buff, you will probably see an uptick of her again for awhile, like what happens with most recently buffed gods, but then she will fall back out of the spotlight again.....hopefully.

The only thing that is kind of weird to me is that usually they buff one aspect and nerf a different aspect during it. Example, Hades in last patch where they reduced heal scaling of his 3 and increased CD of his 1, but shortened CD on his silence. So it makes me curious on how effective the nerf/buffs will be this patch.

Then they just refocus him in a different area. I have seen the same thing happen too one ability.

e.g.
If they would want to have an ability be better late game but worse early game. They just nerf the base damage and buff the scaling.

I love how long this is and yet it still only just scratches the surface of the intricacies of buffs and nerfs, even regarding what options HiRez has when specifically adjusting a god's kit.

Eg: just some things off the top of my head that aren't covered here ~

• Ability cast times (ie: how long it takes for an ability to begin or end)
• Ability projectile speeds / times until the effect starts
• Item synergies (eg: abilities that apply on hit effects + items like Polynomicon).
• Passive effects in general
• Quality of life changes
• Changes to god's actual kits

And that's without even going in detail about whether these buffs/nerfs are reflective of the current meta (eg: synergies with other gods / items that are strong, or glaring weaknesses to either) , how viable they are at the low level vs the pro level, how other buffs/nerfs in the same patch may affect them, whether the buff/nerf addresses the root cause of a problem surrounding the god or simply puts a bandaid over it, etc.

TL;DR: Buffing/nerfing is complicated, unfortunately from my experience HiRez doesn't do an incredible job with it (on the other hand I have quite a bit of fun playing unbalanced games but that's just me).

**Also bonus fact: This is my 2000th comment