David “Allied” Hance, Former SMITE Pro Dies After Cancer Fight

May 3, 2017 ESportsSource

Photo courtesy of SMITE Esports.

Former SMITE professional player and caster David “Allied” Hance is dead at age 25 after a battle with an aggressive form of cancer.  According to his sister, the New York native and former EnVyUs and Luminosity player passed away this week.  The 2016 XBox One Invitational winner known for his big personality and infectious laugh retired from competitive SMITE in February of 2016 and announced his cancer diagnosis in April of that year.

 Columbia University’s Center for Complicated Grief has a number of websites for people in various stages of the grieving process.

It was never going to be an easy journey, but when David “Allied” Hance announced he had cancer, he spoke of fighting the supposed death sentence with the ferocity of his favorite SMITE god, Hun Batz, pouncing on an enemy in the jungle.  After months of chemotherapy and other treatments, Allied began to stream again and worked as an entertainer and substitute for top NA team Luminosity until his final, terminal diagnosis.

Allied was one of the first professional SMITE players, turning to the game after leaving the Smash and StarCraft II scenes in 2013.  He took second place at the PAX East tournament that year representing ROOT Gaming alongside Mattypocket, Lassiz, Shing, and Jerb.

Allied played on top teams throughout his SMITE career but he also knew how to win when the odds were against him.  Team EnVyUs failed to qualify for the 2016 SMITE World Championships, so in the weeks leading up to the qualifier for the console Invitational at the event, Allied and his teammates learned how to play the game on a completely different platform – and took first place at the tournament.  Allied retired after the event and began working as an entertainer on Twitch and a caster for Hi-Rez.

In one of his last streams, Allied had some words of advice for his friends and SMITE family:

The SMITE community is a close-knit one, and news of Allied’s passing hit hard.  At the 2016 Spring Fling, SMITE fans raised over $100,000 in donations for Allied’s cancer treatment.  Today, those same fans (including players and fans from the wider esports community) are flooding the SMITE subreddit, Allied’s Twitch channel and Twitter with messages of support for Allied’s family and friends and tributes in his memory.

Finally, a look back at Allied’s 2015 SMITE player profile:

Proceeds from Allied’s shirt sales will go to his family.