Hi-Rez Studios’ free-to-play MOBA, Smite, is absolutely filled with skins for the game’s various gods and goddesses. Most of the skins are only obtainable with Smite’s premium currency, gems. However, each god/goddess has an alternative “recolor” skin (also known as a Tier 1 skin [1]) that can be purchased with the favor earned from participating in multiplayer matches. The majority of these recolor skins are basically just different colored armor/clothes/skin color for the gods. A few of the recolor skins look really cool, and a few look really bad.

I thought it’d be fun to highlight the best and worst recolor skins in Smite, starting with the 5 best:

The Best:

“Typhoon” Kukulkan

Kukulkan is already one of the most unique-looking gods in Smite. Apart from the simple fact that he’s not a humanoid like most of Smite’s gods and goddesses, Kukulkan has the distinction of being so large that the camera angle had to be specifically adjusted for him. Not to mention the fact that he’s a flying-freaking-snake who can conjure up tornados.

The only thing cooler than Kukulkan is a Kukulkan with the Typhoon recolor skin. The color tone shifts from green and pink to a fierce dark red and yellow. His feathers also glow a bit too, giving a moving Kukulkan the impression of being aflame. The Typhoon skin is super cool and easily one of the best recolor skins in Smite.

 

“Molten Fury” Geb

For much the same reason that Kukulkan’s Typhoon skin is one of the best recolor skins in Smite, so to is Geb’s Molton Fury skin. With Molton Fury, Geb goes from being a chill, moss-covered rock goliath to a molten-cored, volcanic hunk of burning rock. It’s absolutely awesome.

 

“Toxic Caress” Arachne

Arachne is one dangerous assassin. If she’s not spinning you into a cocoon for her spider-babies to munch on, she’s probably creeping over the battle, looking to leap down onto an unsuspecting enemy. Her default skin is varying shades of purple, contrasted by her fiery orange hair. Her recolor skin, “Toxic Caress” kicks things up a notch with a truly poisonous color scheme.

With Toxic Caress, Arachne’s default purple is replaced with poisonous shades of green. The little carapaces that jut up from her legs and abdomen have gotten a particularly toxic treatment as they now glow green. The poison is clearly flowing through Toxic Caress Arachne. Best of all, her eyes now glow too.

Go ahead, give the enemy team something to have nightmares about.

 

“The Earthshaker” Poseidon

The was the very first recolor skin I purchased, and for good reason. The Earthshaker recolor skin for Poseidon offers one of the most drastic changes to a player model in Smite. It brings Posiedon from a cool-looking water god to a proud and mighty King-of-the-Ocean-and-Master-of-the-Kraken god. The difference between the default Poseidon skin and The Earthshaker is immediately evident in the bold, blue shades added to the model as well as the gold trimmings layered into Poseidon’s wardrobe. The shark-shaped shoulder-pad (such a cool touch!) is now gleaming gold, while the coral mounted on his other shoulder is colored with shade of ocean green.

Going from basically looking like he’s wearing steamed asparagus, to looking like a proper, noble and powerful deity of the oceans, the Earthshaker skin is a must for any player who is looking to get into playing Poseidon seriously.

 

“Blood Moon” Awilix

I may be a little partial to this one, considering Awilix is one of my favorite characters in Smite. While the Blood Moon skin is pretty much just Awilix in a different outfit with red gems in her spear instead of purple ones, her Blood Moon recolor skin is essentially a two-for-one deal.

Along with her new outfit and spear, Suku, her jaguar, also gets a recolor. The Blood Moon skin transforms Suku from being a black jaguar to a spotted jaguar. Even though Suku is a jaguar, with the spotted skin he gets with the Blood Moon skin it kind of makes him look like a cheetah. So if you fancy pretending to ride a cheetah into battle, you’re going to want to pick up the Blood Moon skin for Awilix.

 

The Worst:

 

“Cascade” He Bo

 

 

 

 

Just look at it. I included the player model so you could see it in all it’s glory.

No, it is not a glitch. That…is the skin.

Atrocious, just absolutely hideous. I know everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but if you think Cascade He Bo looks good, you are wrong. It takes all the amazing detail that makes He Bo one of the coolest looking gods in Smite (he’s half-man, half-water tornado, and has Kaiju arms) and just —literally— waters it down. He Bo becomes one ugly, repeating texture.

Cascade He Bo is a no-brainer to avoid.

 

“Battle Maiden” Bellona

This one is easy simply because there isn’t much to it.

By spending your hard-earned favor on Battle Maiden Bellona, you’re basically spending all your favor on some hair dye and some black paint.

Almost all of the other gods and goddesses get a full outfit altercation, or even a completely different skin tone. Battle Maiden Bellona’s differences are merely that she now has pink hair, her blood red cape/skirt are now just black, and the color accents on her armor were painted over with more black. The purple hair is cool, but it unfortunately enough to carry this skin into being something worth spending your favor on.

 

“Northern Lights” Freya

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s another skin that I have no idea what Hi-Rez was thinking when they released this train-wreck. Again, I had to show you the in-game model because the artwork actually makes the skin look way cooler than it actually is.

I get that they were going for the “Northern Lights” look (it’s in the name after all), but Janus H. Cabrakan, they dropped the ball so hard it hurts my eyes to even look at this skin. How did this even pass approval at Hi-Rez? I only know of two people who bought this skin. One bought it on accident, and the other bought it to be ironic. My recommendation is to not buy it at all.

 

“Regal Reveler” Bacchus

Besides having one of the most outdated player-models in the game, Bacchus gets a second short straw by having one of the worst recolor skins available in Smite.

It’s like Hi-Rez knows how bad this recolor is, because it’s one of the few card designs that was never updated to their new artistic direction. Look at that card compared to all the others and you’ll see what I mean.

The Regal Reveler Bacchus skin takes an already rough-looking god, stains his beard with some mustard and then reddens his skin tones to resemble a red potato. Yuck.

 

“Bloodfire” Hades

Here’s some ketchup to go with that mustard.

But first, let’s back up a bit. Hades is an awesome looking god. He’s the Greek god of the underworld, and one of the most recognizable gods in Smite, right behind Zeus and Thor. He should have some of the most menacing skins available in Smite.

“So let’s pour ketchup all over him,” Hi-Rez said as they designed the Bloodfire skin.

As the name implies, the skin is supposed to resemble a bloody inferno. Instead, it just looks like Hades is continually having ketchup poured all over him. On the bright side, the recolor is in Hades’s older model. So if you’re a fan of Hades’s original look, than you can pick it up with this skin. The default “old Hades” is a gem-only skin.

 

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Sources: [1: Reddit – “Infographic – Smite Skin Tiers”][God Card art and in-game images via SmiteGamepedia]