So we're finally wrapping up Season 3 of Smite. It has been kind of rough, lots of criticism, and some rather strange decisions made by HiRez. We started off with a new pantheon, Japanese, and it looks like we're gonna do the same for Season 4 with the Celtic pantheon. While I am very excited to (finally) get some Celtic gods in the game, I thought now would be a good time to reminisce about the gods that were released during Season 3. 

I'm going to list each god and give my opinions on them. I would love to see some discussion on your favorite S3 god/goddess and what makes them your favorite. It doesn't have to be based on performance, it can be aesthetic, or even just that you have fun playing them. 

Amaterasu - The Shining Light

The first Japanese character in the game, Amaterasu offers a good balance between offensive and defensive capabilities.  I enjoy building her with lots of cooldown, and pairing it with Gauntlet of Thebes, giving her plenty of sustainability by switching stances. While I don't play her much, I find that with the damage reduction given by her Heavenly Reflection skill, she's often among the highest damage mitigated at the end of the match, even if she didn't build full tank.

Raijin - The Master of Thunder

Personally, I never found Raijin particularly interesting to play. He can be quite the powerhouse mid to late game though, and his escape is excellent for a mage. I find that many players new to Raijin are easily caught out of position using their ult. The only inclination I really have to play Raijin nowadays is his cheesy Devil Horns skin, channeling his inner Scandinavian metal drummer, over-the-top accent and all. 

Skadi - Goddess of Winter

I particularly enjoyed Skadi when she first came out. She's a strong hunter and her wolf, Kaldr, has received his fair share of well deserved nerfs. He's still a force to be reckoned with if Skadi shows some good timing. I haven't put as much time into Skadi as I think she deserves based on how much I enjoyed her when she was released. Additionally, I really enjoy her voice pack. Awoooo! 

Jing Wei - The Oathkeeper

Oh boy, Jing Wei. Not a goddess I am particularly fond of. She was very strong on her release, and still is. Her passive needs a nerf, something like Kumbhakarna's where it would need to cooldown after use. On smaller maps like clash and joust, it's pretty ridiculous how fast she can return from base, over and over. She's somewhat fun to play, but every time I do I feel kind of cheap, her base damage and attack speed are just so high. She's able to escape lots of situations that others can't. On top of that I find her voice work rather annoying. I understand that in her lore she's a teenager, but that shouldn't be an excuse for her base voice pack to say things like "Oh hey fam!" or "Savage!" Just doesn't fit with the rest of the game.

Susano(o) - God of the Summer Storm

Here's a god that had some solid balance issues at launch, and arguably still does. I could never get the hang of him, but the mass amount of damage he can do at a safe range can be infuriating at times. The speed at which he can cause massive damage is nothing to shake a stick at. Herein is one of the questionable decisions made by HiRez; They nerfed him so that he couldn't attack quite as quickly, and did less damage. In my opinion, they balanced him and made him fair to play against. HiRez didn't like the dropoff of Susano players this caused, and REVOKED the nerf. A side note, they changed the spelling of his name, which usually has a second "o", but kept the pronunciation with the second "o". Not really all that new for HiRez to do that sort of thing, but still annoying! 

Fafnir - Lord of Glittering Gold

Ok, while I don't play him a whole lot, what's NOT cool about Fafnir?! He's a dwarf, that turns into a freaking dragon. On top of that he does decent damage and can support the crap out of his team. A good Fafnir is one of those things that can make a game go from a hard fight to a smooth victory. Definitely a god  I want to play more in the future, I love his aesthetic and his kit. 

Erlang Shen - The Illustrious Sage

Erlang isn't a god I have a high opinion of. The most upsetting for me is that he looks way, way, WAY too much like a character from HiRez's flop of a game, Paladins. To me it's a smack in the face because I feel like some of the quality drop Smite experienced during Season 3 is caused by the split attentions of HiRez between Smite and Paladins. So giving us a god who looks like he was made for the other game is kind of insulting. As if that weren't enough, he does assassin amounts of damage with the stats and kit of a warrior. That means anyone who is competent in using him is a pain in the rear to deal with, moreso than many characters. Early and mid game he's almost unstoppable in the right hands. He does fall off late game though, but that's not a great form of balance in my opinion. Another complaint is that in most to all of the lore behind Erlang Shen, he has a third eye that shoots laser beams. HiRez took a "absolutely no laser beams" stance for him very early in his development and it just doesn't make sense to me. 

Terra - The Earth Mother

Ah, Terra. She's kind of an enigma for me. Her visual design is alright, she's got a fun interesting kit, but... I just hate playing her. Sure she's got some decent healing, and a great support ult, but I never feel like I'm doing enough damage to make a difference. Yes I know, she's a guardian, she's a support character. She's probably one of the better balanced ones in the game, but that means it's not satisfying to play her. Her skills look badass but when I crush someone between two giant slabs of stone and it barely nicks their health, I can't help but be disappointed. She's a good support but she'll just never be as fun to me as Ymir or Xing Tian, where I can tank for my team AND put the hurt on the baddies. 

Izanami - Matron of the Dead

Now we're talking! A hunter with a funky basic attack? Mixing it up a little! I was super excited pre-launch because reading her skills, Izanami sounded like a hunter MADE to do basic attacks! It's been a good while since we had one of those, I thought! As it turned out, early Iz was better built ability damage, destroying my hopes and dreams. However, after a couple tweaks to her basics, they boosted her up to being one of the better boxers in the game! Hallelujah! To make it even better, they added a plague doctor skin which I absolutely adore.

Camazotz - Deadly God of Bats

This is an interesting one for me. I think they did a great job coming up with something interesting, although in my opinion the Mayan pantheon is full of fun/whacky gods. His kit is interesting, full of sustain not characteristic of an assassin, but balanced enough that it is fun. In the right hands, he can be strong and a valuable teammate. In the wrong hands, his low health pool and lackluster ultimate damage mean he can be a liability. That's not my main issue though. His kit is good, his model is decent, but his animations are... Well... Flaily. Lots of arm waving and needless hopping. His animations all look kind of silly, like he should walk around going "Teehee, I'm gonna get you! Wakka wakka!" Which is made worse by the fact that his silly, wide wingspan make him one of the larger hitboxes in the game, which doesn't pair well with the aforementioned low health pool. A side note, he has the only voice pack in the game (for the Jurassic skin) that makes indistinguishable noises when using the WHOLE VGS system. Want to warn your teammates in left lane of an incoming gank squad of overfed baddies? Too bad, he's just gonna make pterodactyl noises.  

Thoth - Arbiter of the Damned

Look at this fancy guy! He's got an item in the game and everything. They did a great job keeping his look accurate to lore, and his kit does what they set after. Glass cannon alert! With passive penetration stacks, his title should probably be "lord of the stacks", as you'll want a Warlocks Sash if the opposing team has any sort of competent assassin. That being said, I think his early game sucks, it takes him a LONG time to get all those stacks online. But oh boy come late game, it's not unlikely that you'll one-shot some poor unfortunate soul with his ultimate. This is balanced by the fact bird-man loves to shout AS LOUD AS HE CAN while charging his ult, just in case anyone didn't notice and prepare to sidestep. If you know his kit, his range can be crazy, as well as his escape.

Nike - Goddess of Victory

Well, in my opinion, HiRez saved the best for last. Nike is my favorite S3 Goddess. I love her look, with the wings, the armor, and the big ass spear. Her kit is fun and strong. I know that she's still in heavy nerf territory as her ult is kinda (very) overpowered right now. That's a lot of shield, AND a slow? Ok HiRez, keep it in your pants! Oh, and being able to max out HP5 with only a couple of items is fun (unbalanced) too! I know she's not the most balanced, but she's just so fun for me to play I have to say she's my favorite! 

Leave your favorites below, I want to hear your thoughts on this seasons gods! Looking forward to S4 and the Celtic pantheon!