Smite 2’s open beta is now live—join the mythological MOBA for free!
1.14.2025
By Diego Nicolás Argüello, Contributor
If you're unfamiliar, Smite 2 is the sequel to 2014's action combat MOBA original. It's intended to be played on both keyboard and mouse or controller with ease—according to publisher Hi-Rez Studios, over 50% of players are on console, and there have been over 40 million players since release.
Presenting a roster of characters inspired by mythical figures from Thor to Medusa, as well as a steep but rewarding learning curve, Smite 2 aims to be a massive refinement of previous foundations. Here's everything you should know about the sequel going free-to-play, including new characters, modes, and enhancements across the board.
Aladdin joins the fray alongside familiar faces
Remember Aladdin? He's joining the universe of Smite for the first time, bringing a new pantheon called Tales of Arabia.
Aladdin's role is Magical Assassin, which carries a hybrid scaling. You have three wishes at your disposal, but they can only be used once per game. The wishes grant you the ability to come back to life instantly, earn bonus gold, or reset all cooldowns. Abilities have refires where you can call in a Genie for a tag team attack. Aladdin can also run on walls, and his ultimate ability has him trapping enemies in the lamp to fight them. Anyone can join, allowing Aladdin to split up a fight in the heat of battle.

In addition, there are some returning characters that will be immediately familiar to veteran Smite players. That being said, they all have different tweaks in the sequel:
- Geb: Geb can now leap out of his rolling ball form to knock up enemies. His shield shares passive damage protection with allies.
- Ullr: Ullr's bow shot leaves an arrow which creates a slowing zone on Stance Swap. There's a similar protection shred on his leap, too.
- Agni: Gains additional passive damage procs when he gets a kill, and literally sets on fire in the process.
- Mulan: Mulan can now plant a consumable banner which increases XP and grants movement speed to allies. Her ultimate improves as you master each skill as well.
Conquest mode is being overhauled
In Conquest mode, Smite players compete in teams of five (5v5) on a large-scale, three-lane map with a jungle area. The sequel is bringing significant updates to this mode which are bound to shake existing strategies.
Now there are fewer random islands, designed to improve player flow, as well as the addition of jungle camps on the sidelines. There's a Cyclops camp that drops a war consumable and a Scorpion camp that drops an Eye of the Jungle consumable, which pings all enemy positions on the map once.
For jungle boss pickups, the Fire Giant now drops the Obsidian Dagger, which can be stolen by the enemy team if you're not careful. When used, it deals 500 true damage to the user but grants twenty percent more damage and attack speed for six seconds in return. If the item kills the user, it revives them to full health and doubles the duration of the buff instead, which adds an interesting strategy layer to consider. As for breakables, there are now Jars of Gold near the Gold Fury, Fragments of Power near the Fire Giant, and Healing Wisps in the jungle.

In addition, there are some returning game modes. The first is Joust, a 3v3 mode where there's one lane with jungle camps. Now, Joust has an Arthurian-themed map as well as teleporters for traversing the map and stealth grass for surprise attacks. This locale is also used for Duel, which is a 1v1 confrontation mode. Lastly, there's Assault, which pits 5v5 on a single lane with random gods and no option to return to base.
Aspects are a big addition
While some changes to returning characters are bigger than others, there's a new mechanic that is set to shake things up further. When you're in the match lobby, you can now choose to play a character normally or with an aspect enabled. Aspects—which are neither unlocked nor paid for with in-game currency or microtransactions—can significantly change how a god feels and plays.
Below are a few examples of how aspects change existing characters:
- Athena is no longer able to teleport allies and shield them. Instead, she teleports to foes to weaken them.
- Cernunnos, a range character, becomes a melee god instead, but cleaves with bonuses from his chosen season.
- When she creates a clone, The Morrigan no longer enters stealth. However, the aspect allows her to reactivate and swap places with her clone.
At the open beta's launch, 20 out of the 45 available gods have aspects, and Hi-Rez said more will be added over time.
Quality of life updates
For a game like Smite 2, where different strategies and team synergies can lead to completely distinct matches, it's necessary to fine-tune the experience. That's what the team behind the sequel has been doing ahead of the open beta launch.
If you're under crowd control while casting a spell, which is a term that refers to negative status effects, you can now finish your casting. Elsewhere, all auto builds have been updated, there are role guides for all roles and role filters in the item shop, and you'll see messages guiding you through the game flow.
You can also expect new items, including late-game luxury items, and improvements in strength and active items. The developer has also tweaked ranked reset and matchmaking, animations for victory and defeat, and optimized performance across the board. If you were hoping for some UI enhancements, there's now text chat on PC and death recap available.
In terms of the roadmap for the future, keep an eye out for the culmination of the first Smite 2 esports tournament in Las Vegas, taking place from January 17 to 19. Until then, you're already able to jump into the game and see which characters are likely to be the popular picks when the tournament comes around.
Smite 2 is now available for free on the Epic Games Store.