This bounty is still open for entries, but if you want to learn how diminishing returns works in SMITE 2, check out the article we've published using some of the winning entries!
SMITE 2 is full of complex mechanics that new players may struggle to understand and one of these is diminishing returns. So if you're a SMITE veteran and you can break it down for us, please do! Knowing how diminishing returns works is essential to crafting homebrew builds and maximising your effectiveness with a god, so if you want to make it to the top, you need to understand it. Shout out to @Inters3ct for the idea in our suggest-a-reward!
The definition of diminishing returns is a lot of words to say that putting more effort into something does not always mean you get more rewards. At some point, you get diminished returns. This concept exists inside Smite, normally abbreviated as DR, which is mistaken for damage reduction by players from other games. Crowd Control, Protections, and Cooldown rates all have diminishing returns.
Crowd Control diminishing returns can be experienced during gameplay. Where it acts as a stacking buff with a max of two. When a player gets hit by certain types of Crowd Control they get a stack of DR. Gaining another stack of DR refreshes the timer. Each stack reduces the time the player is affected by Crowd Control by 20% allowing for a 40% reduction at max stacks.
Diminishing returns for Protections and Cooldown are a lot simpler to explain. So simple that they can be represented as math formulas.
For Protections: (100*Unmitigated damage)/(100+protections).
For cooldown: 1-(100/(100+ cooldown rate)).
You can forget that diminishing returns exist for protections and cooldowns as the game’s items are balanced in a way to avoid getting hurt by Diminishing Returns. Unless you are trying to min-max a build. Crow Control’s diminishing returns, however, are experienced in every match. Ever missed a Crowd control target? Might be because Diminishing Returns made the stun last for 60% of the time it was supposed to.
Diminishing Returns in SMITE 2 is a system designed to reduce the effectiveness of stacked Crowd Control (or CC) abilities, ensuring that players cannot be perpetually locked down in fights. This mechanic primarily applies to Hard CC and operates to preserve gameplay balance in SMITE 2 CC heavy environment.
When a god is hit by Hard CC, they gain one stack of Diminishing Returns for 6 seconds. Each Diminishing Returns stack reduces the duration of subsequent Hard CC by 20%, with a maximum of two stacks, capping the reduction at 40%. After 6 seconds of not being hit by Hard CC, these Diminishing Returns stacks expire.
In Smite 2, Diminishing Returns exist to preserves the utility of CC, prevents infinite CC chains or encourages strategic use of CC abilities.
Simply put, Diminishing Returns is a reduction on crowd control that is applied to a character in quick succession. It's a simple mechanic, but since it's hidden, it's hard to know exactly when it's being applied.
If you have a Ymir freeze you with his 3, you'll suffer the full duration of the CC. However, if said Ymir used Staff of Myrddin to use his 3 twice in a row, the second crowd control would be a certain percentage reduced- in this case, imagine the CC goes from 2.0 seconds to 1.4 seconds. If you're then hit by an additional CC, said duration could be reduced to say, 0.8 seconds instead.
I'm playing with loose numbers here, but you get the idea! After a few seconds of not being crowd controlled, you lose your DR stacks, allowing people to hit you with fresh CC again.
This system is in Smite 2 specifically to prevent people from infinitely ccing a target- Smite has a lot of crowd control, and has a lot of items and systems to lower the impact of it while not removing crowd control in its entirety. CC Buffering was added recently, which helps meter the impact of CC-Heavy teams. DR (diminishing returns) is simply just another system that allows the Smite devs to help you keep control of your character in the thick of it, especially if you're a tank and can survive through multiple crowd controls.
Diminishing Returns (DR, for short) is present in several mechanics within SMITE 2, but the most common one people think of when talking about DR is related to Crowd Control (CC).
Essentially, when you are hit by a Hard Crowd Control, you gain one stack of DR that lasts 6s and reduces future Hard CC durations on you by 20%. In SMITE 2 this stacks twice for a maximum reduction of 40% after you've been hit by 2 Hard CCs.
This only applies to Hard CC, not Soft CC which is a bit of a tangent but essentially anything except Slows, Cripples, Blinds, Deafens and Intoxication is a Hard CC. Stacks of diminishing returns are not applied by Soft CCs, nor are Soft CCs affected by the duration reduction from it.
There are other applications of 'Diminishing Returns' as a wider concept such as with Movement Speed which essentially follows a curve that means that buying more movement speed is less effective the more you have already bought. Protections work in a similar way and even Slows go through a formula to make it so they have diminishing effectiveness the larger the slow percentage is.
But most people when they say 'DR' are referring to the Crowd Control DR.
To understand Diminishing Returns (DR), the first think to understand is that Smite 2 like its predecessor is a Crowd Control (CC) heavy game.
To combat the stacking of CC effects on gods essentially timing a god out of every fight, the developers have a DR system in the game to reduce the effectiveness of stacking CC's by lowering the duration by a % amount.
AFAIK, Closed Alpha 3 was the last patch to address it but was very clear at least of Smite2's direction. Stacks have been lowered from 4 --> 2. Decreased Duration of DR Stacks from 15s to 6s duration. What this means is for 6 seconds after getting hit by 2 CC abilities you will hit max DR on your god reducing all future CC abilities on yourself. In this way should you survive (mainly Warriors and Guardians will withstand it) further Hard CC effects on your God will not be for the full duration. For example, a 1 second stun on a God will be reduced to 0.6.
In short, understanding diminishing returns will help you as a player know what CC abilities to use displacement immune abilities, CC immune abilities, beads or actives to counter act the enemy's choice in CC and knowing then how to position in the case of chain cc being applied to themselves or a teammate.
Hard CC: Stuns, silences, fears, taunts, mesmerizes, disarms. These are subject to DR.("Diminishing Returns")
True Hard CC: Banish, grab, knockback, knockup, polymorph. These give 2 DR stacks but aren't reduced by DR themselves.
Soft CC: Slows, roots, cripples, blinds. Generally, these don't trigger DR, except slows which have their own DR.
Diminishing Returns Mechanics:
First CC: No reduction; full duration is applied.
Second CC: Duration is reduced to 66% if within 15 seconds of the first.
Third and Beyond: Further CC effects are reduced to 33% of their original duration, with a minimum of 0.5 seconds.
DR Stacks:
Each hard CC adds one DR stack, lasting for 15 seconds. If no new hard CC hits within this time, the next one will be at full duration.
True Hard CC adds 2 stacks, influencing the duration reduction of subsequent hard CC.
Slows' Unique DR:
Slows have a separate DR where each new slow is less effective than the last if applied in quick succession.
Crowd Control Reduction (CCR):
CCR from items or abilities shortens CC duration, including those already reduced by DR. If a CC is at 66% due to DR, CCR will reduce this further.
DR prevents continuous CC chaining, ensuring gameplay remains dynamic. Players must use a mix of CC types or coordinate with teammates to avoid diminishing returns, promoting tactical depth in battles.
This system is vital for both dealing with and countering CC in Smite 2, affecting how abilities are timed and combined in combat.
Laymen’s terms…
Crowd control (CC) effects get weaker if used repeatedly on the same player within a short time:
First CC: Full effect.
Second CC: 66% of normal duration.
Third and More: 33% of normal duration, with a minimum of 0.5 seconds.
This applies to hard CC like stuns but not to slows, which have their own reduction system. True hard CC like knockbacks give more stacks but aren't reduced by existing stacks. This ensures players aren't locked down forever, adding strategy to CC use.
Diminishing returns are essential to understand because they apply to various effects such as movement speed, damage reduction, and various other bonuses that the deity uses in battle. When you repeatedly stack an effect and exceed the maximum achievable, the effect tends to decrease. This is because if it were to increase repeatedly and consistently it would not be well balanced against the opponents.
This makes us understand that we should never overload a stat to maximize the benefits that we could instead obtain from other items and combined abilities. For example, if we have many items that increase speed, we can balance everything with the construction by including the items that instead give us resistance or damage.
