The first goddess we will discuss is Hel. Let’s start with her large nerfs in Season 2.



In early S2 Hel was a force to be reckoned with. Apparently the designers at the time were unhappy with her healing amount and they reduced her scaling dramatically on Inspire and increased her cooldown for both Inspire and Repulse. This largely put Hel out of the meta from 2.19 until her first buffs in patch 3.6.

In Patch 3.10 Hel had the following stats

#64 out of 77 gods in win % in casual conquest



#62 out of 76 gods in win % in ranked conquest



#71 out of 77 gods in play count in casual conquest



#76 out of 76 gods in play count in ranked conquest



As we can see here, even after some buffs she was pretty much dead last in all stats. We felt that her overall appearance and design were solid, so we concluded that it must be a balance issue. With that in mind she received another set of buffs in patch 3.12.

In Patch 3.21 Hel had the following stats

#67 out of 82 gods in win % in casual conquest



#33 out of 81 gods in win % in ranked conquest



#79 out of 82 gods in play count in casual conquest



#81 out of 81 gods in play count in ranked conquest



#69 out of 82 gods in player damage dealt in casual conquest



#3 out of 82 gods in player healing in casual conquest



There was a glimmer of hope as her ranked stats increased to a reasonable level, but her play count was still so insanely low that it was hard to actually trust the stats. It was possible that only 1 or 2 players who were just so skilled they could win with any god were accounting for that win %. Her win % fluctuated heavily and was always near the bottom of all gods. Her casual stats hadn’t really improved either. 3.24 paints a very similar story, so i’ll skip those numbers.

This brings us to her 4.1 heavy balance changes. As the god continued to be one of the least played in the game and continued to suffer at most levels of play we felt some heavy adjustment was in now necessary.

Before making changes we spent a good bit of time discussion possible directions. Based on historical research and design goals we decided on some key goals to pursue and a few clear warning signs to avoid.

Specific design goals for the 4.1 Hel update were:

Buff her lane clear



Buff her single target healing



Add a new healing type ability - single target skill shot heal



Avoid buffing her AoE burst healing or self healing



Buff her mana costs



Buff her unique factors (cleanse)



We had a few difficult tasks here in that we wanted to buff her but we knew we couldn’t buff her Inspire ability (light 3) because of the experience we had from Season 2. We had so many buffs planned for 4.1 that we were worried about her being way too strong, so we accompanied a few nerfs along with the changes. We wanted to shrink the explode radius of her dark 1, as the ability was already gaining a huge increase in its reach and ability to damage multiple targets. We wanted to focus the light 1 on healing only to more clearly define her difference between stances. We wanted keep her light 3 entirely heal over time to reduce the frustration of her opponents.

These three nerfs paired with all of her buffs did not go over well with the community. There was overwhelming feedback that she was being nerfed and not buffed, although we still firmly believe there was more buffs than nerfs in the original proposal. Allowing her dark 1 to become her primary lane clear was a huge buff. It would make her safer in lane and better at poking enemies but it seemed it wasn’t enough for the community. We took the feedback and PTS testing to heart and reverted these few nerfs, going forward with a myriad of buffs and only one nerf: light 1 would not heal her if she damages an enemy with it.

These changes went live in 4.1 with a pretty rough reception. Many players and Hel mains still bashed the character by saying she was weaker than before and that she felt clunky. However, the stats painted a very different picture.

In Patch 4.1 Hel had the following stats

#3 out of 84 gods in win % in casual conquest



#3 out of 83 gods in win % in ranked conquest



#69 out of 84 gods in play count in casual conquest



#76 out of 83 gods in play count in ranked conquest



#60 out of 84 gods in player damage dealt in casual conquest



#2 out of 84 gods in player healing in casual conquest



In Patch 4.6 Hel had the following stats

#13 out of 86 gods in win % in casual conquest



#25 out of 85 gods in win % in ranked conquest



#76 out of 86 gods in play count in casual conquest



#82 out of 85 gods in play count in ranked conquest



In Patch 4.11 Hel had the following stats

#9 out of 89 gods in win % in casual conquest



#8 out of 88 gods in win % in ranked conquest



#77 out of 89 gods in play count in casual conquest



#70 out of 88 gods in play count in ranked conquest



Hel went from a bottom 10 god, to a top 3 god after 4.1. That’s an absolutely huge jump. She was clearly quite powerful. As the season progressed she continued to keep her place at the top of the win % stats. 11 Patches later with no direct changes she was still a top 10 god.

Her damage and healing didn’t change too much in the rankings, but the way that damage was being used was very different. The added safety and ability to wave clear caused a huge spike in win % but only a small spike in player damage. Her healing remained extremely relevant as well.

She became very strong in casuals yet her play count remained quite low, largely due to her perception. Her ranked win % stats can’t even be trusted because her play count was so low. Players very strongly believed that she was weak, but this was not the case. This put us in a pretty interesting situation.

We could buff her to further strengthen her and attract more players to her, but this would cause balance issues and guaranteed nerfs in the future. We also could wait and see if players could discover her strength on their own. We opted for the 2nd strategy. The only downside to that option is that a few players criticized us for “ignoring” her. We can take a little criticism, so we continued to let the god remain as is and watched from patch to patch as a small group of players continued to be extremely successful with her. We hoped every patch that the community would soon discover her strength. Eventually it happened.

Players finally started to see the light when Aror played Hel at the NRG Invitational. Even after the event many players still labeled Hel as a troll pick or a joke. However, more pros started playing Hel in high ranked games which were often seen on Twitch streams. By the time relegations rolled around she was a top ban for EU. Many players still did not believe in her ability but the stats finally started to turn. We have seen her play count increase greatly in ranked and casuals all while her win % continues to be at the top of the pack. Now the community perception is finally aligned with the actual stats. This is always one of our top goals. This report shows how difficult it can be.

In writing this article I hope people take away a few things

Just because you’re not seeing a god in your games/pro play does not mean the god is bad. Just because you see a lot of players bashing a god verbally on social media does not mean the god is bad. One person’s anecdotal experience is not representative of the entire player base.

It happens quite often that a god/item/relic is powerful but hasn’t been discovered yet. In many cases players rely heavily on a pro or community figure showing them the way.



We care a lot about community feedback, and reverting some of those 4.1 Hel changes was the right thing to do. If she launched as planned she would have been closer to the middle of the pack (ideal balance) but she would have never been re-discovered or seen a spike in play count.



Gods are never “ignored.” If there is someone who you think deserves a change but isn’t getting it then we probably have very strong statistical evidence that changes are not needed. REAL example: Nike is one of the most winning gods in SMITE history, even after many nerfs she is currently still a top god in every measurable way. There are no buffs planned for her soon.



Thanks for reading! Stay posted for more God Progress Reports!