Breaking Down the Nerfs to Loki in Patch 6.1

Loki is a controversial god in Smite. He is very popular and many people play almost exclusively Loki. There are also quite a few players that hate having a Loki on either team in their games. While not the most powerful god, Loki is frustrating to play against and was strong enough to get nerfed in Patch 6.1. Loki’s basic attack damage and Vanish ability saw major changes. In this article, we will examine these nerfs and what they mean to the Trickster God of Smite.

Loki is a very polarizing god in Smite. He has the most powerful stealth in the game and can kill squishy characters like Mages or Hunters before they can react. Loki is designed to be annoying and non-interactive unless he is blowing up a carry. This playstyle makes some players absolutely hate Loki, while others love him so much that they main or even one-trick the character.

Loki has a boring laning phase, especially for his opponent. Loki rushes Transcendence and starts with his Decoy. He casts Decoys for wave clear and likes to proxy waves by walking under the enemy’s blue buff to place a Decoy. This is done in the early game to allow a second Decoy to kill the wave when the minions meet. Once a single Decoy clears the wave, a proxy can allow Loki to roam while the opponent has to be mindful of the minion wave. If Loki is pressured and not given the opportunity to proxy, he can safely stay under his tower and use Vanish and Decoy to clear the wave without punishment.

Loki is not an Assassin with much utility. If he all-ins onto the enemy team, he might kill a carry, but should also die for it himself. Loki can roam around the outskirts of a fight, looking to last hit someone running away or pick off a squishy out of position. He just has to hope his team doesn’t collapse in a 4v5 if he doesn’t commit.

Instead of teamfighting, Loki prefers to split push. His power and penetration build allows him to destroy towers and Decoy can be used to hold tower aggro while Loki gets free hits on the structure. Decoy does not remove back door protections, Loki just does a lot of damage. A team has to either send someone to stop the Loki, leaving the rest of the map 4v4, or try to rush a fight 5v4 and hope Loki doesn’t take their base. Neither option feels good when they don’t succeed and Loki is allowed to run rampant.

When fighting Loki, he feels like a god without much skill expression. He just AFK farms and then one-shots the Mage or Hunter. Having multiple escapes means Loki gets to run away from bad situations or failed plays. However, positioning is very important and Loki has to be careful where he is walking or he’ll be CC'd and killed. A good Loki can also utilize different combos depending on if he’s already in stealth and if he needs his ultimate to escape. In addition, Loki’s burst is increased by using basic attacks cancels in the middle of his ability combos.

Loki’s biggest weakness is a coordinated team with good communication. Because of this, Loki can feel overwhelming and dangerous in casual and ranked games while he is a rare sight in professional play. When communication is not available, vision and group play can be used to keep tabs on a Loki trying to be sneaky.

Loki has a unique and polarizing playstyle in Smite.

One of the nerfs to Loki in Patch 6.1 involves the damage of his basic attacks. Previously, Loki’s attack chain was a progression of 1 /.5 /.5 /.5 /1.5. This means that his first basic attack was normal and then the middle three hits are faster and do half the damage of his first attack, while the fifth hit has a slower animation and does extra damage. In Season 6, the damage of the first attack was reduced to a 0.75 ratio. This means that his opening basic attack will deal 75% of his basic attack damage stat, before other damage calculations. The rest of Loki’s basic attack chain has stayed the same.

Loki is not a character that holds down his basic attack button, but instead will increase his burst by including attack cancels in his combos. Loki can use a basic attack in between each ability in his combos and each basic attack will be the first strike of his hit chain. Loki combos can include two or three of these reset basic attacks. With Patch 6.1, each of those woven basic attacks will have a damage ratio of 0.75, significantly reducing the damage of Loki’s combos. In addition, multipliers such as Hyrda’s Lament and Loki’s passive have reduced damage compared to Season 5 because of this nerf. The change to Loki’s first basic attack can reduce his burst by hundreds of damage in the late game, potentially spelling the difference between a carry getting obliterated and surviving the Loki all-in.  

The changes to Loki’s basic attacks reduce his burst potential.

The Season 6 patch also dealt a blow to Vanish. Vanish is a spell that loads Loki with extra effects. It makes him invisible for four seconds and increases his movement speed while in stealth. Loki can use his Decoy and Aimed Strike abilities without dropping out of stealth, but ulting, basic attacking, and being hit by some forms of crowd control will reveal Loki. Loki’s first successful basic attack from stealth, or for two seconds after revealing himself, applies a damage over time effect.

Vanish also used to give Loki 25% damage reduction, but this effect was removed in Patch 6.1.  The mitigation from Vanish was incredibly strong and one of the better damage reduction effects in the game when combined with invisibility. Without the damage reduction, Loki is less safe when trying to run away after killing someone and now is more likely to die to retaliation from the enemy team. While hitting a stealthed Loki isn’t easy, good predictions and AoE abilities can still take him down.

The nerf to Vanish means Loki should die more often in clutch situations.

In the balance portion of Smite’s patch notes, the developers often provide insight into why they made changes and what they hope to accomplish. With Loki, Titan Forge said that Smite is healthiest when he is slightly undertuned. This allows specialists and one-tricks to play the god and do well without this frustrating god overwhelming Smite. Loki had been gaining in strength towards the end of Season 5 and they wanted to nerf Loki back to state good for the game. Both the nerfs to Loki in Patch 6.1 should keep Loki around but give more counter play opportunities to his opponents.

Smite is best when Loki exists below the point of balance.

Loki is a popular god with a dedicated playerbase. He is an all-in Assassin that can kill squishy targets and run away without recourse. Loki doesn’t provide much utility and likes to split push or ambush squishies in the late game. In the Season Six patch, Loki received a couple nerfs. The damage in the first hit of his basic attack chain got cut, lowering the damage of his attack cancels and burst combos. In addition, Vanish no longer provides damage mitigation while stealthed, making Loki a bit more vulnerable when he’s running around. Smite is healthiest when Loki is slightly underpowered and these changes should make sure the Trickster God isn’t overbearing in the new season.

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