Shiva the Destroyer enters the SMITE battlefield

Shiva the Destroyer entered the SMITE battlefield in patch 9.2 with his abilities revealed during the patch’s Twitch update show on Wednesday. Players can now select him and duke it out against their enemies.

Samsara passive

Shiva’s passive is Samsara, which lets him switch between Bliss and Destruction modes. He can cycle between these states by damaging enemy players. Each state gives him and his allies benefits while putting his foes at a disadvantage. When Shiva switches between Bliss and Destruction, his ability cooldowns are reduced by a couple of seconds. However, this doesn’t apply to his ultimate.

Emblazoned Sweep

Shiva the Destroyer’s first ability in SMITE is Emblazoned Sweep. When used, his trident deals damage, pulls in enemies and creates a firewall.

In his Bliss state, Shiva’s teammates get their movement speed buffed when passing by the firewall. If Shiva is in Destruction mode, then his foes get hit with a protection reduction debuff when passing the firewall.

Damaru’s Tempo

Damaru’s Tempo is Shiva’s next ability, which knocks his foes into the air.

While his allies gain attack speed during Shiva’s Bliss state, Destruction mode makes his enemies suffer an attack speed debuff.

Pillar of Dawn

As for Pillar of Dawn, Shiva dashes into a pillar of fire. He meditates for a short duration and takes reduced damage while becoming immune to crowd control. Shiva can dash out of the pillar as well, and each dash can deal damage to enemies.

In Bliss mode, allies within the pillar’s aura gain a block stack while Shiva himself can gain up to three stacks of it. When in the Destructive state, the aura deals constant damage to enemies.

Shiva Tandava

The newest ultimate to enter the SMITE battlefield is Shiva Tandava. When used, Shiva performs the Tandava dance and becomes immune to crowd control and mitigates a percentage of damage.

While the first step of Tandava restores the health and mana of allies, the next one grants him a significant amount of damage and healing while buffing the radius and effect of the proceeding step. The third step reduces the damage and shields of enemies.

Players who wish to play as Shiva can also collect new skins for him. These skins include Supreme Protector Shiva, Ascended Shiva and Shiva Masteries.