Smite features many different game modes with the largest being Conquest. Players can choose between Training (vs AI), Custom, Co-Op (with clan/friends), Normal and Ranked play styles. From there, they can choose between a variety of standard game modes. Special event games with unique rules like unlimited gold are also often introduced.
At the beginning of each match, players select a god or other mythological figure to play as. As of December 2023, players can choose between a large variety of characters from different pantheons including, but not limited to, Babylonian, Celtic, Chinese, Egyptian, Greek, Hindu, Japanese, Norse, Polynesian, Roman, Mayan, Slavic, Voodoo, and Yoruba. The characters of King Arthur’s legends (referred to as the Arthurian pantheon in-game) and the Cthulhu Mythos (referred to as the pantheon of the Great Old Ones) are also considered pantheons in this video game.
Each character is classified as one of the following classes: Assassin, Guardian, Hunter, Mage, or Warrior. Unless otherwise stated, two players on the same team cannot choose the same character (in competitive modes and those using a Draft pick method, each player must use a different character). Successful team configurations typically feature a well-rounded team following standard RPG raid configurations (tank, healer, physical/magical damage) during god selection.
While most MOBA games are played from a top-down perspective, in Smite, the player controls the god in a third-person perspective. Each god has a basic attack, a passive trait, and four abilities with varying effects (area damage, crowd control, status effects, etc.). These abilities are acquired and upgraded when the player’s character levels up by gaining experience from being in range of minions when they are killed, taking down towers or phoenixes and defeating enemy characters. The maximum level is 20 and each successive level is more difficult to reach. Each player also accumulates gold through standard periodic income and by slaying enemies (player and NPC alike); gold is used to buy items for their god, as well as potions, wards and abilities.
Each game mode has a specific map it is played on, which is separated into “lanes”, where waves of computer-controlled minions march toward the enemy base, and the “jungle”, where computer-controlled monsters periodically spawn at specific locations distributed symmetrically across the map. Killing monsters in said jungle grants experience points and gold; killing certain monsters causes a “buff” to drop on the ground which, when picked up by a player, grants temporary bonuses to stats such as damage dealt, movement speed, and attack speed. There are three special monsters who appear less frequently that grant the team which lands the killing blow a set amount of gold, as well as a temporary damage buff and speed boost when coming out of the base.
Smite is a 2014 free-to-play third-person multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game developed and published by Hi-Rez Studios for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Amazon Luna. In Smite, players control a god, goddess or other mythological figure and take part in team-based combat, using their abilities and tactics against other player-controlled gods and non-player-controlled minions. In most gamemodes, victory is achieved by slaying the opposing team’s titan before losing their own.
The game has multiple player versus player (PVP) modes, 130 playable gods, and has a successful esports scene with multiple tournaments, including the annual million-dollar Smite World Championship. As of 2020, Smite has attracted a total of 40 million players. A sequel, Smite 2, was first announced in January 2024, and entered Open Beta in January 2025.
Conquest is the default game mode and follows the standard gameplay of MOBA games, being played on a three-lane map based on Warcraft III’s Defense of the Ancients map. Two teams of five players begin at opposite sides of the map, at their team’s “fountain,” and are granted a set amount of gold to buy starting items. There are three continuous “lanes” running from one side of the map to the other, each defended by towers and a “phoenix”, both of which deal damage to enemies that come too close.
The game is won by killing the opposing team’s titan, a giant warrior located in each team’s base. To accomplish this, the players must first destroy the towers and phoenixes guarding the enemy base. The player teams are accompanied by “minions”, small soldiers with a weak attack, who spawn at the phoenixes every thirty seconds and run along their lane towards the enemy base, attacking not only enemy players and other minions but also towers, phoenixes and the titan. Towers will prioritize targeting enemy minions over players, allowing players to attack a tower without receiving damage, unless the players attack an enemy player within the enemy tower’s range.
Teams can surrender games at any time after ten minutes, provided at least four players agree. If a player loses connection to the game, two players on either team can choose to pause the game for up to thirty seconds to allow the disconnected player to return. If a team has disconnected players, they can surrender within six minutes and with an adjusted majority requirement.