SMITE Season 8: Tiamat Finally Arrives, SMITE Kicks Off Latest Season With First Babylonian God

As the newest treat for recently-launched Season 8, cross-platform MOBA game SMITE unleashes its first Babylonian god - TIAMAT.

Described by the SMITE devs as its "most ambitious playable character to date," the goddess of the Babylonian pantheon arrived on the game last Feb. 23. She appears in the multiplayer online battle arena as a majestic, exquisite dragon in bright colors. Tiamat will be playable as a dual-stance Mage with "elaborate, unique gameplay features" designed to shake up the existing roster of gods in the game.

Know Tiamat: The Primordial Queen and Goddess of the Salt Sea

Dishant 'Clumzy" Samtani, one of the game designers behind the new god, summarizes Tiamat as the "primordial queen, Goddess of the Salt Sea, and a massive labor of love from the Titan Forge team."

As a mage, Tiamat has eleven skills divided into two stances: the Flying Stance and the Ground Stance. In terms of in-game mechanics, this is similar to the Norse God Ullr, the Glorious One, with his switchable stance system. Clumzy describes Tiamat in Flying Stance as being "elegant, regal" while her Ground Stance is an opportunity to play as a "feral, draconic brawling character." As with Ullr, Tiamat's stance makes her flexible yet slightly difficult for inexperienced players. Flying Stance focuses her skills on being long-range magical nukes, with her ult in this stance being a variable summon - traveling minion-like children to a DPS cyclone. On the other hand, her Ground Stance allows for melee-damaging, AOE abilities as well as bonus armor for engaging in close-range battles.

Furthermore, to better reflect her origins as a creator deity in Babylonian mythology, SMITE has equipped Tiamat with the unique ability to duplicate Jungle buffs. This way, she can leave a copy of the buff for allies to pick up or keep the original and the copy to herself for increased bonuses.

Tiamat was first revealed in a Jan. 8 video on YouTube. Featuring the gods in a struggle against The Great Dreamer, Cthulhu. Whereas Zeus has difficulty fighting the Great Old God, Tiamat banishes the cosmic god and reshapes the world in her own image.

Additional Season 8 Treats

The annual Viewer Pass, available for only 600 gems (in-game currency), is a tempting offer twice the Viewer Point gains for the entire year. It also includes the new and exclusive skin, "Voodoo Rock," for Baron Samedi, plus a special Recall Skin to make your return to base more glorious.

The SMITE Viewer Store has become a hit with players looking for free rewards, such as exclusive skins. Viewer Points are also available by participating in SMITE events on specific Twitch channels and voting on esports matches. Free points are then redeemable in the Viewer Store, available within the game.

Aside from the Voodoo Rock package for Baron Samedi, other treats in the Exclusive Viewer Store include the Infinite Avatar Vamana, and the flared and modernized Chichen Pizza Xbalanque. SMITE devs have also enabled Viewer Points for unlocking other cosmetic items like Jump Stamps, Recall Skins, Death Stamps, and more.