Explain how diminishing returns work in SMITE 2!

As for Diminishing Returns, I can assure you that the name sounds much more complicated than it actually is. To understand, it's actually quite simple: it's basically a strategy to prevent the game from becoming unbalanced and even frustrating for the player who is receiving a lot of CC, so that the game becomes fairer... when a god receives different crowd control skills in succession, diminishing returns acts to reduce the effectiveness of these skills, so that he is not immobilized for too long during a fight. Be aware, however, that this strategy is only applied to Hard CC, such as freeze or stun, and will not affect softer CCs such as slow or blind, for example. So when you receive a Hard CC, you get a stack of diminishing returns that lasts 6 seconds, so it reduces the duration of the next CCs by 20%. This effect can also be stacked with another stack (a maximum of two), giving you a 40% reduction in the duration of CCs. So basically it's important to understand that, if you're the target, they won't immobilize you forever and, if you're the one attacking, using all the skills at once isn't always the best option, you need a more coordinated attack to achieve maximum effectiveness.

So, to talk about the Diminishing Returns or just DR, we need to understand that Smite 2 is a game that have a lot of Hard Crowd Control or just HCC.

The HCC are the skill effects that applies restriction and reduction to movement and actions in the enemy player, like stun and taunt for exemple. And how all the players know those effects are extremely important to strategy of the game match that a lot of skills have at least one of those effects.

Knowing this the DR shows up, that serves to give more fairness and let the game more exited. For exemple if in the enemy team there are two gods that use a skill against you and each give 2 seconds of stun, the first one will give the full 2 seconds, if you are hit again by other god the second stun will only have a duration of 1.6s, 20% less, if some how you have again the same HCC stacked a third time this one will be 1.2s, 40% less, and this will prevent you to be spamed with many HCC, giving you the chance to react and make a counter attack.

And this give some good impacts, make a game a little harder, or easy if this used against you, but in general both teams will have to take this in consideration while make the tema and planing an attack since those effects won't be so efficient used together so the timing using the skills with HCC depends so much on the time used by each god!

In SMITE 2, diminishing returns (DR) are game mechanics designed to prevent certain effects, like crowd control (CC) and stat bonuses, from becoming overly oppressive when applied repeatedly. This system ensures a balanced and fair gameplay experience by reducing the effectiveness of these effects when stacked or used in quick succession.

1. Crowd Control Diminishing Returns:

   When a god is affected by hard crowd control abilities—such as stuns, fears, taunts, mesmerizes, silences, knockups, knockbacks, banishes, pulls, pushes, grabs, disarms, polymorphs, trembles, roots, or intoxications—they receive a diminishing returns stack. Each stack reduces the duration of subsequent hard CC effects by 20%, up to a maximum of two stacks (totaling a 40% reduction). These stacks last for 6 seconds.

   For example, if a god is stunned and then quickly hit with another stun within this 6-second window, the second stun's duration will be reduced by 20%. If a third hard CC effect is applied within the same period, its duration will be reduced by 40%. This system prevents scenarios where players could be indefinitely locked down by consecutive CC effects.

2. Stat Diminishing Returns:

   Beyond crowd control, diminishing returns also apply to certain stats to maintain game balance.

   Movement Speed: As players stack movement speed bonuses, each additional bonus contributes less to the overall speed, preventing characters from becoming unreasonably fast.

These diminishing returns mechanisms encourage strategic gameplay, requiring players to consider the timing and stacking of abilities and items to maximize their effectiveness without relying on repetitive tactics.

Diminishing returns (DR) is a balancing system that reduces the effectiveness of certain effects when they are applied repeatedly. This mechanic is most visible with crowd control (CC) abilities, such as stuns, silences and rooting. When your character is hit by a CC effect, they receive the full impact of that skill. Now, if another strong CC is applied in a short period, the effect will be less potent, meaning the duration of the stun will be shorter; each additional hit adds a stack of DR that lasts 6 seconds and reduces the duration of other strong CC by 20%, up to a maximum reduction of 40%. What does that mean? In practice, a 4s CC when accompanied by other CCs in that timeframe can have a maximum reduction and last only 2.4s (it's a very nice mechanic that allows for better equality in battle). After 6 seconds without additional CC, these stacks are reset, allowing the next CC to reach full strength again (I can't play with this in mind, but if you know how to control your skills in the midst of chaos to make the most of the stun time, congratulations hahaha). On the other hand, the effects of soft CC, such as deceleration, are not affected by this stacking mechanism.

The diminishing returns also apply to recharge time reduction, movement speed and protections. In these cases, the more you stack a certain attribute, the smaller the additional benefit you receive with each new increment. For example, investing in recharge reduction will bring significant benefits at first, but as you continue to accumulate CDR, the incremental gains will become smaller (for example: your first CDR buff will be 30%, but the second would only be 15% and so on, so that the game doesn't become unbalanced). This prevents any player from becoming too powerful simply by accumulating an attribute to absurd levels.

I believe that the DR system in the game ensures that players don't abuse systems that are essential to gameplay. We know how unbearable it can be not to be able to move with so many CC skills, and also to have an opponent who dispels skills every 0.1 seconds because there is no control over reducing the recharge time. It promotes strategic gameplay, forcing players to carefully consider the timing and composition of the build, ensuring that no single strategy becomes dominant.

In SMITE 2 the concept of diminishing returns refers to the reduced effectiveness of certain effects (like crowd control or stat bonuses) when they are stacked or applied repeatedly. This mechanic ensures balance by preventing players from becoming too overpowered or completely locked down by continuous effects. Here's how it works:

1.Crowd Control (CC) Diminishing Returns:

Crowd control abilities (stuns, slows, roots, silences) are subject to diminishing returns. If a player is hit by multiple CC effects in a short period the duration and effectiveness of subsequent CC are reduced. This prevents chain-CC scenarios where a player could be permanently disabled.

- First CC Application:Full duration and effect.

- Second CC Application:Reduced duration (20% less than the original duration)

- Third CC Application and Beyond: Further reduced duration (40% less than the original duration).

After a short cooldown period (6 seconds), the diminishing returns reset, and the next CC will apply at full effectiveness.

2. Stat Diminishing Returns:

Certain stats in SMITE 2 (cooldown reduction, movement speed, ) have diminishing returns to prevent players from stacking them to extreme levels. For example:

- Cooldown Reduction Rate (CDR): There’s a formula to prevent players from achieving 100% cdr on abilities.

- Movement Speed: Bonuses from items or abilities may have diminishing returns after a certain threshold, so stacking too much speed won’t make you infinitely faster.

Why Diminishing Returns Exist

- Balance: Prevents one strategy or stat from becoming overwhelmingly dominant.

-Counterplay: Ensures players can still react and fight back, even when hit by multiple effects.

- Fairness: Reduces frustration from being chain-CC’d or facing opponents with extreme stat advantages.

In summary, diminishing returns in SMITE 2 are a balancing mechanic that ensures gameplay remains fair and engaging by limiting the effectiveness of repeated or excessive effects.