SMITE: Demigods, Deities and Gods Explained – Osiris

lh_smite_deities_demigods_gods_explained_Osiris_Default_CardSMITE: Demigods, Deities and Gods Explained is a column dedicated to introducing prospective players of SMITE to its massive backstory 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: Osiris, along with sisters Isis and Set, remain some of the most famous gods in the Egyptian pantheon. He’s a complicated individual more so than many other gods of his time. Coming to fruition in the earlier dynasties of Egypt, Osiris was linked to realms common to the religions of the world. The realm of the death, resurrection, life and the afterlife were under his control simultaneously or at various times in Egyptian history. As his role in the supernatural world morphed oft did his name melding with local cultures or lesser-known gods. Despite the varying etymology, the largest merger made him Ptah-Seker-Osiris adding Creator God to the aforementioned realms.

Complex his history since the middle of the Fifth Dynasty may be, Osiris is the namesake for the most venerable and well known Egyptian myth. The Osiris myth, as summarized in our earlier Isis posting, sees him murdered by Set, his sister. Isis, his consort and sister, revives him like the wheat along the Nile. He’s alive long enough to plant his seed in her, posthumously getting her pregnant with Horus. The tale truly begins there and we’ll save the major details for Horus’ own post, should he come to SMITE. Rest assured the tale is laced with complex symbolism and the basis for succession in Egyptian mythology. Furthermore, it brings to light the pillars of the culture, order and disorder, death and the afterlife.

Osiris is depicted as green-skinned to showcase his lordship over reincarnation. A cook and flair are ever in his hands. The symbology represents the father of Horus as a shepherding god (crook) and the fertility of the land (flail). His partially mummified body emphasizes his twice death, twice rebirth. The lord of these realms had the most staying power of the Egyptian culture. It wasn’t until the 6th century AD, hundreds of years after Christianity assaulted paganism, that his final temples on the Nile were destroyed.

In-Game: Bar none, the key to Osiris is maximizing his passive in synergy with increasing the power of each ability. His passive plays well with his lore. Each ability cast sees him lose a part of himself increasing his damage. Once reaching eight stacks Osiris enters the ethereal realm ignoring impediments and walking through gods for six basic attacks. Furthermore, the rest of the abilities trigger off each other.

Given the requirements it should be fairly obvious that cooldown reduction is one of your main targets. Items like Jotunn’s Wrath, The Executioner and Hastened Fatalis combine for a powerful cooldown reduction, damage and hunting aspect. If you’re expecting to grab additional protections be sure to mix in a Runeforged Hammer.

Further reading:

Head over to SMITE: Demigods, Deities and Gods Explained for details on all of the playable characters.