SMITE: Demigods, Deities and Gods Explained is a column dedicated to introducing prospective players of SMITE to its massive back story of lore. From the Greek to Hindu, each week we’ll look at two characters from a major pantheon and provide a quick recap of their history and in what capacity their digital incarnation will represent on the field of Hi-Rez Studios’ upcoming MOBA.
Lore: Having a confusing, extensive or fractured history as an ancient deity isn’t original. Chang’e, the Chinese goddess of the Moon takes the cake. Chang’e was originally known as Heng’e and changed to clarify the moon goddess from the Emperor of Wen of Han, Liu Heng. As if that wasn’t enough, Chang’e has three distinct origin stories. However, her overall mythology revolves around a few core elements; Houyi the Archer, an elixir of life and, naturally, the Moon.
The most retold story of Chang’e features a cast of characters, including her expert archer of a husband, Houyi, and the better known Jade Emperor. One unassuming day the Jade Emperor’s ten sons rose into the sky as ten suns, scorching the Earth and bringing ruin to mortal life. Frantic, the Jade Emperor summoned Houyi to come up with a solution before the realm was ruined. Using his innate skills Houyi targeted and shot down nine suns with his marksmanship skills, leaving one to remain.
Disgusted at the archer’s solution, the Jade Emperor cast Houyi and Chang’e to the Earth as mortals. Devastated by the loss of her immortality, the good husband Houyi goes on a journey to find the elixir of life. Houyi eventually finds a pill capable of offering two people their immortality if split. However, upon discovering an unknown pill, Chang’e consumes the whole thing. The overdose caused her to float to the Moon instead of being simply immortal. Incapable of training an arrow on his beloved, Houyi is forced to watch her float away.
Upon landing on the moon Chang’e meets two companions. The first is the Jade Rabbit, a creature that specialized in making elixirs, including one of life. The other is Wu Gang, banished to the Moon for seeking immortality as well.
In-Game: Chang’e uses her impressive dancing abilities to do combat as a magical mage. However, as a heavy support character, she doesn’t do a whole lot of actual damage. Her dance moves specialize in buffing herself and nearby allies so you’ll want to use them as much as possible. Every ability gains bonus damage from magical power making it a required stat when itemizing. Thanks to an ability that restores mana rather than burning it, Chang’e players will not have to be too concerned with sapping her pool.
Chang’e is best played in a heavy support role following the fight as it moves around the map. Her stun helps setup kills, but players shouldn’t expect many. Unlike some other support characters, Chang’e’s abilities gain power through magic power. Have your Jade Rabbit grab items like Rod of Tahuti, Chronos’ Pendant, and Book of Thoth.
Further reading:
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Chang’e on Wikipedia
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Chinese Mythology on Wikipedia
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Apollo 11 reference by Buzz Aldrin
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Journey to the West (PDF)
Head over to SMITE: Demigods, Deities and Gods Explained for details on all of the playable characters.