Sent From Above, Norse God Heimdallr is Now Playable in Smite

Smite has added a new god to game’s pantheon, Heimdallr the Vigilant, a much-requested character from the community.

Smite’s extensive pantheon of playable Gods has gained a new addition today: Heimdallr the Vigilant.

This addition to the free-to-play battle arena is arriving in a different way than fans probably anticipated. While Heimdallr is a large, bulky, hulk of a god, brandishing two axes and the powerful Gjallarhorn, developer Hi-Rez wanted to make the character unique, and steered clear of making him a Warrior or Guardian. Instead, he’s in the quicker, more agile role of a Hunter.

“Players had shared feedback about Hunters feeling similar to one another,” AJ Walker, lead designer on Smite, said in a post about the new character. “They often contain a ranged damage ability, a self buff, and some form of mobility. We specifically tried to avoid that combination on Heimdallr.”

Heimdallr: #TheVigilant is live!

Try out the newest God to hit the Battleground now! pic.twitter.com/kv1EzmOupx

— SMITE (@SMITEGame) December 11, 2019

Heimdallr comes with a selection of new abilities, the first of which is his passive ability called The Vigilant. When Heimdallr sees an enemy god, he will gain Physical Power. Once they have left his sight, he will be able to see them for 4 seconds.

Next, is Piercing Sight, where Heimdallr throws his sword into the air where it will show all enemies within 120 feet. He can refire the ability to bring the sword down and damage enemies in a targeted location.

After this is The Gjallarhorn, where Heimdallr raises the horn and blows for two seconds, causing any enemy in front of him to lose Movement and Attack Speed. During this, he is invulnerable to knock-ups and gains bonus protections. When the ability is finished, either through the player cancelling it or the two seconds ending, Heimdallr will raise Gjallarhorn for a final blast, damaging enemies and knocking them away.

Then there is The Bifrost, allowing the player to place fragments of the legendary rainbow bridge on the map. When two fragments are placed, they connect, allowing Heimdallr to traverse the bridge. The farther they are from each other, the longer the traversal will be, and any enemy that goes between the fragments will be seen by Heimdallr.

The final ability is Through the Realms. Heimdallr charges forward with his axe, and if he hits any enemy gods, he will unleash a devastating swing of his axe and launch them into the air. Once this happens, a Bifrost portal opens and the enemy will be sent through the realms of Muspelheim and Niflheim, and bring them back in a random location in front of Heimdallr. Muspelheim burns players every 0.5 seconds for 1.5 seconds, while Niflheim will slow them down for 2.5 seconds.

The character of Heimdallr was a possibility that the Smite community talked about frequently, creating possible builds and gameplay styles. While Hi-Rez has subverted those expectations to some degree by making the character a Hunter, fans are sure to be excited to finally get their hands on this new character.

Smite is available now on PC, Xbox One, PS4, and Switch.