Bob Ross Will Be Added to Smite as a Hero Skin

Here’s a thing you didn’t expect to read today: Bob Ross is going to be added to the Smite character roster. The famous painter will be featured as a skin for Sylvanus, an existing hero, so he won’t have any new abilities, but the ones he does have will be reskinned to fit the theme, as well. Coming soon to an item shop near you.

Bob Ross Sylvanus skin will be coming to Smite on May 9th. You’ll be able to purchase it for 700 gems in the item shop, or for $10 using Twitch’s new game shop. Apart from the skin, you’ll also recive some goodies on the side, including:

• Bob Ross Jump Stamp – leaves a photo of Ross’ face on the ground, surrounded by a paint splatter
• Bob Ross Loading Screen – A loading screen with one of Ross’ paintings
• Bob Ross Loading Frame

Instead of riding a regular trent, Ross is going to go into battle on a happy treant, with a mile-wide grin and beard. His abilities will be reskined as well – he’ll shoot paint at enemies, summon clouds to heal and summon paintbrushes as his ult.

Bob Ross was the happiest painter alive, and he used to share the joy of painting in a TV show called The Joy of Painting. It aired from the mid-eighties to the mid-nineties, and received another surge in popularity recently, when it was broadcast on Twitch as a marathon. Ross’ work now enjoys a second golden age, as many people are fascinated by his soft voice and mellow personality.

Hopefully the Smite skin will use soundbites from the TV show as barks – Ross’ voice was unique, and he had a lot of small wisdoms to share with his audience. Replacing him with a soundalike would just be a shame.