Brand New Item Tree in SMITE Patch 9.7

We do not think you are truly ready for this. Hi-Rez has added a completely new item tree to the game. There is so much to it, and for now, we have no clue how it will impact the meta long-term. A couple of Tier 3 items that you can get from the new Tier 1 item called Mystical Earring drops buffs that your allies can pick up, which is a completely new mechanic in SMITE.

For other news on the patch notes, visit our main article.

New Item Mechanic in SMITE Patch 9.7

Below, we will go through all Tiers of this New Item Tree with some predictions and commentary.

T1 – MYSTICAL EARRING – 400G

• STATS
  • + 15 MP5

This seems like a decent item to further your efforts to poke your lane enemies (and/or to cast your heal spells).

T2 – GLEAMING EAR CUFFS – 1300G

• Builds into Griffonwing Earrings only
• STATS
  • + 20 Physical Power
  • + 30 Magical Power
  • + 15% Attack Speed
  • + 15 MP5

This is, of course, the item that is made for ranged basic attack-based Gods, so all Hunters and Freya, Chronos… It’s decent with stats, and it gets better when you evolve it!

T2 – JEWELED STUDS – 1400G

• Builds into Sphinx’s Bauble only
• STATS
  • + 30 Physical Power
  • + 50 Magical Power
  • + 10% Cooldown Reduction
  • + 20 MP5

This is, we believe, a Crowd-Control Based Guardian/Warrior item that will help them survive longer in team clashes without losing much of their performance (since their goal is usually not to deal damage and heal).

Related: Best Guardian Gods in SMITE (2022)

T2 – ROSE SPIKE EARRINGS – 1200G

• Builds into Manticore’s Spike or Fae-Blessed Hoops
• STATS
  • + 200 Health
  • + 15 HP5
  • + 15 MP5

Item built for Support Gods. Nothing special, but wait to see what Tier 3 has to offer!

T3 – GRIFFONWING EARRINGS – 2200G

• STATS
  • + 40 Physical Power
  • + 60 Magical Power
  • + 25% Attack Speed
  • + 15 MP5
• PASSIVE
  • Basic attack projectile speed increased by 40%
  • Basic attack damage reduced by 15% (10% in the newest patch)
• CLASS LOCKED TO HUNTERS AND MAGES ONLY

Related: Best Hunter Gods In SMITE (2022)

In short, a trade-off between your attack damage and the precision of your shots, moving you closer to being a hit-scan character instead of a projectile shooting character. This item will make it harder for enemies to juke your basic attacks.
The buff of the item makes us believe that Hi-Rez didn’t accomplish what they originally wanted with this one.
We’ll see what happens in the future, though.

Related: Best Mage Gods in SMITE (2022)

T3 – SPHINX’S BAUBLE – 2700G

• STATS
  • + 55 Physical Power
  • + 80 Magical Power
  • + 10% Cooldown Reduction
  • + 30 MP5
• PASSIVE
  • Cooldown Reduction Cap increased from 40% to 60%
  • Ability damage dealt decreased by 20%
  • Ability healing decreased by 20%

As mentioned, this is a great support item if your God is dealing insignificant amounts of damage and doesn’t provide heals. You can pimp your cooldown much higher than usual so that you can apply your Crowd Control abilities against enemies even faster.

Related: Best Warrior Gods in SMITE (2022)

T3 – MANTICORE’S SPIKE – 2200G

• STATS
  • + 350 HP
  • + 30 HP5
  • + 20 MP5
  • + 20% CCR
• PASSIVE
  • When you hit an enemy god with Hard Crowd Control, they drop a Spike on the ground. When you or an ally pick up that spike, they gain a buff that causes their next ability to deal bonus damage equal to 3% of their Max HP. This effect is doubled if you are the one who picks up the Spike. Spikes last 7s on the ground. Cannot stack. Picking up another Spike when you have the buff refreshes duration.

We mark this as the long-awaited return of the old Soul Reaver ability (in a weaker shape). If a God has 2000 HP, for example, the damage they should take is 60 (or 120). It’s not much, but it’s honest work!

T3 – FAE-BLESSED HOOPS – 2200G

• STATS
  • + 300 Health
  • + 20 HP5
  • + 40 MP5
• PASSIVE
  • Each time an allied god dies within 70 units of you or you heal an allied god with an ability, a flower drops from your ally that can be picked up by you or an allied god. Picking up the flower gives that god a shield equal to 7.5% of their Max HP that lasts for 8s. Does not stack, new shield refreshes the duration. Flowers last 7s on the ground.

Shields are always great to have in dire situations. Math for 2000 HP says that the shield will have a value of 150 HP, which is nothing to be shy of.

It is important to note that these items have already gotten some tweaks which we will immediately list below:

GRIFFONWING EARRINGS (LIVE AUGUST 9)

• Decreased the basic attack damage penalty from 15% to 10%

JEWELED STUDS (LIVE AUGUST 9)

• Decreased Physical Power from 30 to 20
• Decreased Magical Power from 50 to 30

SPHINX’S BAUBLE (LIVE AUGUST 9)

• Decreased MP5 from 30 to 20 
• Decreased item passive cooldown reduction Cap from 60% to 50%