Next Smite PS4/Xbox One Patch Makes 60 FPS the Default, Adds New Character

Smite's next patch on consoles is a big one, as it introduces a new character, a limited-time mode, and an increased frame rate.

With the release of the 3.6 update next week, all Smite players on Xbox One and PS4 will be playing at 60 frames per second. Support for this increased frame rate was added as an optional feature in the most recent update, and it'll now be enabled by default for everyone.

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Another major addition is Jing Wei, who's known as the Oathkeeper. She's a Hunter who's highly mobile, which is best evidenced through her passive, Rapid Reincarnation. Whenever she leaves the fountain, she heads to the sky and is able to quickly fly over objects for five seconds. Another movement-centric ability allows her to dash forward and can be used while she's in the air for a longer dash. She also has an ability that buffs her basic attacks, causing them to do area damage and have higher critical chances.

The last of the big features in this update is the Escape From the Underworld event that's already been happening on PC. This gives Arena matches a new look and adds a bonus round at the end of matches. All 10 players are brought to the center of the map and surrounded by lava, and it's a fight to the death between the two teams. The outcome doesn't doesn't affect the Arena match itself, and is instead just a bonus event that rewards the winning team with extra favor.

Event-specific quests will be available while the event occurs, and you'll be able to earn special rewards like an icon, music theme, loading frame, and skins. The event will span this patch and the next one, with the 3.7 update bringing more items for players to earn.

This update makes a handful of changes to characters and items, too. Odin's ultimate now has a 75-second cooldown (up from 60); Hel's Hinder slow is more effective at all ranks and her light crowd-control immunity from Cleanse lasts longer; and Scylla should be able to hit harder in the early game. On the item side, Genji's Guard no longer offers crowd-control reduction, instead giving 10 percent cooldown reduction and reducing cooldowns by two seconds whenever you take magical ability damage. The latter effect can only happen once every 30 seconds and only triggers if you have an ability on cooldown.

Several new skins are also added with this patch, including the excellent Pandamonium Odin pictured in the gallery above.

The patch arrives for Xbox One on April 26 and PS4 on April 27. You can see the full patch notes here.