SMITE 2's Active Items Have a Problem...

[@ButFirstHeLitItOnFire]

0:34 Actually, it was also imposed because players using controllers had found it difficult to use more than the 3.

[@nevermissrob2552]

As a controller user i have to remember i can use the active item

[@Nonco-1]

They need to do what deadlocks doing with active items and put them on way lower cooldowns. None should be longer than 60 seconds. And if an item would be too strong on anything less than 60 seconds then it should be removed from the game or the active should be nerfed. Dagger of frenzy is a fun item now because they lowered the cooldown to 30 seconds.

[@TheGreatDanish]

For real. I love being able to use my actives more than once in a decade

[@forsterjurgen]

Yeah this is it. I don't want to get an item just for a 5 second 20% attack speed boost every minute and a half

[@GiliusThunderhead]

@@Nonco-1 The main issue I see with short cooldown actives are that you could beads or aegis an enemy ult every single time in a 1v1 laning scenerio

[@Nonco-1]

@GiliusThunderhead Those are relics not actives. What I said only applies to actives. I think beads and aegis should stay on long cooldowns.

[@GiliusThunderhead]

@Nonco-1 ohhh ok I see. Yeah you might be on to something

[@ButFirstHeLitItOnFire]

Here’s an idea: Make it so that ALL Tier 3 items are passive Items, but THEN give THOSE items a tier _4_ version of themselves that’s also an active item. For example, Chrono’s Pendent… _Chrono’s Harvester_ Intelligence: +70 Cooldown Rate: +25 Max Mana: +100 MPS: 5 Passive: Passive: Your ability cooldowns are reduced by 1s every 10s. Active: For the next 10 seconds, casting abilities and landing basic attacks reduces your active cooldowns by 0.50s, and you gain 2.5% of your Maximum Health and Mana back for any God Kills and Assists.

[@HardStuckinGold]

Oooo this idea sounds really nice! Plus would even help pacing of the game since I’m so tired of everyone being full build by 25 mins into the game

[@ralphcabiling1314]

I dont like all items being passive items at all. Id like it if they reintroduced glyphs and made it so it c o u l d turn into an active tho

[@THEDILLYWIGGLE]

I would guess the main reason active items see less play is the risk reward ratio isn't great. The risk of not getting value from your active usage is definitely there, and the reward for using your active item effectively is very negligible compared to a passive item. They should make more active items with passives included as well to make these items easier to get into for players not used to the new actives.

[@aewon2085]

I mean, triple dash hades hits different

[@dylanstanfill2897]

I haven't played much, but I had a lot of fun with the active items. They're easy to use surprisingly and felt impactful. That was just my experience when I played like 10 games.

[@xodiac-gg7049]

I think actives should be mostly tuned out of the game

[@TheHuntsmen47]

My problem with the active items is in late game you die so fast that you just can't use your relic and your abilities and the an active items as well.

[@narwhals6465]

I don't know why nobody is talking about the cooldowns. The biggest issue for me, and everyone I've ever talked to about these items, is the cooldowns. "Here's a really cool effect you get to use once every... 2 minutes." The new Valve game Deadlock has done actives so much better than Smite ever will, which is unfortunate. They have a blink rune, for example, and it's on an 8-second cooldown. Obviously these two games are very different but I'm extremely unlikely to buy any active item with a cooldown longer than my ult. That said, Sun Beam Bow is a perfect item. One of my favorite items in the game, even. Can't wait for them to inevitably remove it to "freshen up the game" in 4 months.

[@kf532]

Valve with dota and deadlock definitely have the best active item design out of the mobas for sure with varying CDs for the effects. An item that blinks you will have a 15 or less CD but an item that heals your team will have 60. And at the top an item that resets all CDs will have a 5m CD.

[@yamitheyveltal8272]

Scepter of Dominion is incredibly strong, especially for Tanks, which is confusing because it's statted for bruiser Int gods. Fun fact, Scepter stasis's anything with an HP bar (Towers, Minions, Camps, FG, I've yet to test Titan), so it's amazing for defending phoenixes or saving allies. You can freeze a whole teamfight, and place your Khepri ult on a frozen teammate. I personally like using it in conjunction with Circe's hexstone to rapidly make room for myself and/or my team. It's also a good beads-eater, because you can beads out of it. If you can show how good you are at placing it, people will respect- and/or fear-beads reactively. Warning, you may be damage immune, but not CC immune. You can be displaced by Fenrir ult, Poseidon Knockback, even Herc Knockup. If you are knocked out of the bubble, you are no longer in Stasis, and animate/play normally, so be careful what team comp you are up against.

[@nycolasgarcia4147]

Supports need to learn how to build Providence every match. It is THE support item that should be everywhere.

[@scatta8365]

the actives in deadlock are super fun to play with and honestly i think plenty of ideas from there can be delivered onto smite 2 phantom strike for example is a late game active that lets you select a target and instantly teleport to them while disarming and slowing them, i feel that this active would work really well in smite 2's game space as a hard anti-carry relic for those late game teamfights

[@MillerWarfare]

On the control scheme I use on controller, using your 2nd active is done via pushing BOTH sticks at the same time and feels generally clunky, especially if you wanna hold them to anticipate an enemy cooldown, if. They made the binds a bit different I think controller players wouldn’t hate them as much

[@tempname3308]

It bugged me as well, but after a while of scrolling through menus while in the practice range I found the place where controller players can re-map their binds. I’ve got all my actives set on a combo of left trigger and face buttons, for easy sorting.

[@FlipBoji]

My thoughts are: I’ll use active items, but I prefer the two relic system. You summarized the niche active items have perfectly. Items with passives might be unintuitive, but items with actives might be a stretch for a “competitive” standpoint. Even if they’re meant to be fun, active items are ridiculously tedious to utilize on a controller. Smite 1 used every button available on a controller effectively, so adding 2 active items (we count the first active item as 2nd relic) in a build tends to make button layouts difficult. Imo. Imagine doing mortal Kombat combos in smite rather than pressing your average 4-6 buttons in smite 1 (not including aiming and positioning with the toggles)

[@GiliusThunderhead]

Even on PC I end up fumbling over remembering to use my active items

[@FlipBoji]

@ I could only imagine. We played the same game for years and the next game they add new key bindings that even existing players have trouble using.

[@zaperzero]

I think the problem is that each role doesn't have defined actives they want. Sunbeam is insanely underrated for backdoor, tank shred, and objectives so i think adc is fine. But solo can't really make good use of Amanita due to how prevelent anti heal is and how slow the med effect is. Mid can't rely on myrridan due to its long cooldown, so it sees mostly gimmick use. And junglers can't really burst out the way they'd want to if they give up offense to get helm, no crit build wants to aoe stim allies with death metal and seldom want split stats, ect. And the cc actives, while strong, are hard to use meaningfully in a god's kit.

[@HardxCorpsxKali]

I don’t have a ton of time in smite 2 but every time I end up building an active item I always forget to use it… it’s the exact same thing as beads. You never know when the right time to use it is. You want to maximize it perfectly so you hold it and then you might think the time is right later but then you’re 1hp so why use it just to die. Idk it just feels bad to use for my play style…. Plus right now I’m using auto build to help give me ideas for items since the shop is all new.

[@eyewarsx]

The problem for me is just that the cooldowns are way too long, and the effects don't feel as impactful and unique. Like in dota, you won't find a hero that DOESN'T use MULTIPLE active items.

[@GamingDualities]

active items were never really fun even in dota or 20 years ago in waircraft 3

[@eyewarsx]

@@GamingDualities That's a... take. The active items in dota are the items with the most utility and fun mechanics. Everyone builds them, and everyone likes them lol

[@GamingDualities]

@@eyewarsx dota 2 stole items from dota allstarts from warcraft 3. i don't wanna hear much from ya all who still think that the origins of the whole MOBA genre is some mere DOTA

[@eyewarsx]

@@GamingDualities Huh? What are you even talking about? I said the items in Dota are good, I never said anything about "the origins of the whole MOBA genre"???????

[@cryptochronos4099]

I had possibly either the best or worst solution to this, glyphs. Introduce a series of items of ludicrous amounts of a single stat 95 strength on one, 175 int on another, 60% Attack speed, 20% Mitigation, 900hp. have them price fairly high but also have them glyphable for another 500 gold and just have an array of active effects that you can choose one of, mostly just pulling from the active items that are or have been in smite 1. this is how I imagine that you increase active item purchases have them be useful when non active and versatile to the build so you can just know that you're picking this up every game.

[@xlK4RMAlx]

The scepter of dominion (the one that turns you stasis) is pretty funny when you throw it on enemies as annubis. You sometimes can get a free wrap, and a kit dump lol

[@marksimmons5781]

honestly it's the bindings on controller for me. I can't reasonably buy more than like 1 due to the bindings being on clunky buttons like both sticks

[@tempname3308]

Unless something has changed recently, your controller binds should be fully customizable. I’ve reformatted about half my button binds to be more convenient.

[@AmLycanThat]

Active are the reason why Smite 2 is so much more fun than 1. The sheer quantity of potential combos, outplays and wacky builds you can produce is amazing. The issue I find with most of them is that outside of their active effects, usually their base stats are pretty lacking when compared with an ordinary passive item. Smite has almost always been about who can kill who the fastest with how incredibly fast the TTK is so active items never even get a chance to show their potential. I think for actives to become genuinely worth building over passive items, they need to practically half the Int/Str of every item in the game to actually give people are chance to use them. Then it'll be worth using Parashu or Myrddin because right now, that extra 20% makes no difference and casting an ability twice is a needless step when they die from just 1 anyway.

[@MrBuns-yi2hk]

It's because having consistent power is way more important than having conditional power. Even if it makes you temporarily strongr. It also doesn't help that a lot of the active items are worse than passive items.

[@Jeraco24]

For me the stats are just not good enough for what half the active items do. I'd rather have some of the actives work as "if you get hit x thing happens" that or some actives i feel should give more stats when it's activated or some do damage with its normal effect. Think gargoyle, great effect yet no one uses it and it's cause it feels bad and like a waste to buy. What if it either A. Did a dot dmage on those effected or B. Did another effect like silence + anti heal or anti shield. Eye of prominence is just trash and should be reworked OR what if based off vision or wards on the map eye of prominence grants stacks of prots or HP or HP5 now that would be dope now you have a support item that gives you a reason to ward and your team.

[@jettblade]

I do agree that active items need to be appealing to all roles and there is a good design space for some interesting effects for something other then temporary buffs. Honestly I think the best option would be to have active items be modular rather then be set items. There are quite a few active items that are only defensive so damage dealers wouldn't want them. If you were to do a system where you can put the active effects on different items it would up its usage. For example you could put a Beads effect on a power item that doesn't have a passive but you could instead put the AEO Attack Speed and Movement Speed slow on that same item if you needed that. It would be a complicated system and you'd need a decent spread of generic items to make the most of it but it would open up a lot more build paths or more counter-play options without taking too big of a hit to the build. Basically instead of dropping something like 40 power for a defensive item you could instead lose 15 power and gain the active effect, it will be a trade-off but not a bad.

[@Bllhyss]

I think most of the active items are actually very over powered however I also think the problem is that in order for them to be "better" than passive items the players needs to know how to get the most value out of them otherwise the risk of wasting all that value wont make any sense if you can just get consistent value from them all game but if the player does know how to use it to its highest potential well then you get a mid laner ganing more intelligence in 1 item than you would get with 3 items at a fg fight or an adc getting 2 items worth of stats in their first item in lane for an absolutely unfair duel. In short I believe people either dont find it fun or "strong" simply bc you have to constantly understand when and where you can use these items as with them you are either stronger if you have them up and weaker if theyre down as opposed to just having a traditional passive while weaker its consistently providing value. For my take I love active items and have been getting huge value from them and have been enjoying them alongside passive items while also believing people will come to like them as well with time

[@manurr5287]

maybe some mini dash for repositioning for carries/mids with no movility or something

[@TheKnightOfSmite]

Active items were a flop of an idea when the relics did the job just fine

[@IllusoryDevil]

One vid that I think sums up a lot of issues with Active items is here kzbin.infoVImKfeuHhdk Personally, in Smite 2, I would like to see less focus on active items. As mentioned in the video, most players have a hard time using active items consistently enough to make them worth while. If Smite 2 is going to push towards Active items, then they should avoid items that would be used "every now and then". For example, like the example in the video pointing to league's "Knights Vow," it creates a tether once and if you are fine with that, you don't have to re-activate the item for the rest of the game. Another item like Goredrinker from league (yes, I played a bit of league) has such a low cool down, that you can use it multiple times within a fight. Knights Vow would be more of a strategy and less "activation time" needed than most and "Goredrinker" would be something you would be incentivized to use almost always in any fight. So in summary, I agree that Active items have a problem and the developers should look around at other mobas on success of them before focusing too much time on it. Agree that the ability should be something worth while and engaging vs. a buff once and while.

[@Godmode_ON24]

They should be more like a 5th ability as you said, not an extra ultimate and have the respective cooldown.

[@cariboopunter]

Shroom use to see lots of use idk why supports dont use the ward one as often as it should

[@kenw.1520]

Hot take: I never liked Active Items. I do play on a controller, for the record; but I have never liked Active Items. And there's just too many buttons going on for me to have to press these other buttons. Also, I'm used to SMITE 1, where I can focus on my gameplay and my passive items just go off and do their own thing. The only passive item I use is the Mushroom one. Because I like to play Buff Support and healing is something I do. Now I still think active items are good for the game, but I just don't see any that I like. I would like them to be simple. Blood Book seems ok. I sometimes consider it, but it just makes me miss my passive Bloodshield item from SMITE 1. Maybe an item with stats that also just hits with chain lightning. Or an item that sets someone on fire and applies a DoT. So yeah, maybe something that is like an extra skill. My 2 cents. I am a filthy casual after all.

[@Inters3ct]

Yeah I imagine it can be tough on controller, but if you're only building 1 active item (which imo should be the target, on average, for DPS roles) then it's just the same as SMITE 1 cause you have 1 relic and 1 active instead of 2 relics.

[@kell7689]

I personally dislike active items. I've used them enough to the point where the muscle memory is there, but they still feel like 1-layer too much. I think a large relic pool and no active items might be better.

[@williamzinedineh]

wait, smite 2 has active items? ugh. it was like the one thing i liked that they didn't have in smite 1. less to keep track of

[@VictorNunez-jm7ex]

I love using the knock up active on support

[@slyguy8943]

Nobody wants to think about push actives when you’re dying in less than 2 seconds by full tank Ra or Baron

[@unclientrandom5371]

My worst problem is Fatalis on hunter. I nust hate everytime this items gets added to hunters

[@ajzorger93]

I get 2 or 3 on khepri

[@AphroOrTroll]

2 on support minimum

[@No_imagination]

Active items feel so weird on console imo it feels like im already pressing enough buttons and dont really want to think about more, it seems like needless complication to have that many more items to think of

[@AphroOrTroll]

No they don't youre just bad

[@No_imagination]

@AphroOrTroll thank you for your very valuable opinion extremely useful information that must have taken you great effort to type out

[@AphroOrTroll]

@@No_imagination im on PS5 and have 0 issues with Actives. I'd suggest a dual sense edge controller

[@No_imagination]

@AphroOrTroll Im on xbox with a defualt controller and it feels weird cant say much about ps5 or special controllers so, dont really got the money for one rn

[@AphroOrTroll]

@No_imagination i suggest playing on Savage control settings

[@Zanroff]

I've thought about this for a while. What if actives had a short cooldown, but the more you use them, the higher the cooldown gets. You can then spend gold to reset the cooldown time to the start when ever.

[@canadianhaz3]

The only active item I buy is helm of darkness I don’t really get ganked anymore

[@AceOniFlyer]

Generally speaking, I don’t think any of the active items feel “flashy” enough for Smite players. I personally like Screeching Gargoyle, but it’s animation looks pretty boring. And to some degree this is bad for enemy players as the sometimes don’t realize I’ve used it on them. Giving it a better animation like maybe a Gargoyle head actually screaming at them might help to get more people into it.

[@AphroOrTroll]

As a PS5 player i love active items 😍

[@I3atosai]

As a new player to the smite community. Almost every video I’ve seen talking about the game, has been about bichin and complaining. Not only by the cc’s but in the comment section as well.

[@funnytman365gaming2]

Combat blink is just too strong

[@bobbob-oo7sz]

at the start didnt like now geting used to them yeah there okay

[@GamingDualities]

I never liked active items in such games. why change things that nobody asked for is beyond me, meanwhile we still have 7 year old Arena map with 0 esport scene rankings or tournaments

[@cherudon5310]

The only active i ever need as adc is bloodforge. The rest idc about

[@HadeyanUtkan]

I still dont get it why Smite try to be 3D LoL ? We don't play LoL cuz of all the micro stuff, like lining ur shot for the "kill shot" on minions, or all kinda active items, or being able to get 4 different items with the same Tier 1 and Tier 2 items ... These are boring micro stuff that good on LoL but not on Smite, cuz Smite has to be more about macro, cuz it's more dynamic, the action more prominent cuz it's 3D Third person shooter game. Every shot, every land is a skill shot. And there are strategies behind how you land/put/throw your skills for different uses (Like Yemoja's portal can be a trap or escape tool). LoL ain't have that, that's why LoL try to create this "challenging" feeling with lots of micro plays, actives, invades, 4 different dragon that give different effects to the game in different phases of the match and etc. Smite has to be more straightforward in micro management, cuz it's more mechanical skill base, the macro part harder than LoL (and on the counterpart, LoL's micro way harder and challenging than Smite's) But now you try to bring all these irrelevant macro stuff to Smite ? At some point it'll be frustrating and no fun. Also, in late game, you die way easier in Smite compare to LoL (specially after all lifesteal, self-heal and DR nerfs in Smite) so that's why you ain't have same amount of opportunity to use active items as frequent as in LoL. So again, it's irrelevant for "the fun" in Smite. We just needed old Smite (ofc with some improvements and new stuff but not LoL copying) with modern day graphics. But you guys making a 3D Wild Rift / LoL.

[@GamingDualities]

because they dont understand their own genre and why lol is successful. because they have control over asia market, not because they are being innovative. smite trying to copy league is what destroyed smite

[@HadeyanUtkan]

@@GamingDualities Totally agree.

[@ٴٴٴ-ظ4ذ]

They should just remove them, less clutter

[@frieza2013]

Yeah, their stats are all the same. What’s the support items all support is pretty much build the same.

[@eightlights4939]

If I have to build 3 active items to be competitive then I dont want to play the game. Smites a casual moba as far as im concerned, and Ive landed in masters conqeust nearly every season.

[@glassking8416]

Hiiii intersect

[@AphroOrTroll]

Dreamers Idol mid 😍

[@AphroOrTroll]

Whats with the dreamers and avatars shade ????? those are the only 2 remotely fun active items

[@mikehenderson7730]

Take actives out, bring back in 2 relic system that change didn't need to happen from smite 1

[@tyronemagnus1736]

Active Items should never be good! Just fun casual items

[@timothyfloyd3269]

dude active item problem. right now Poseidon needs to be removed from the game. or hit with the nuke hammer. he's prolly the most broken god release in all of smite history. the damage you release is no joke. i can pump out 7k. damage in 2 seconds in him using his whole kit and poly procs. this isn't an exaggeration i tested in practice that is a reall number you can do.

[@flaming7488]

7 views at 2 minutes? Bro fell off hard

[@bodemonoolho5011]

Nah it's smite in general that fell off hard

[@flaming7488]

@bodemonoolho5011 retard this was a joke

[@GamingDualities]

i see you are still using promotional accoutns intersect. guys like u is why no smite content creator get any views. disgrace

[@flaming7488]

@@bodemonoolho5011 dum dum this was a joke