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Coldblooded Killer

3 2 22,480
by ubersoldat42 updated March 26, 2016

Smite God: Skadi

Build Guide Discussion 14 More Guides
Tap Mouse over an item or ability icon for detailed info

Skadi Build

Recommended Final Build

Build Item Transcendence Transcendence
Build Item Ninja Tabi Ninja Tabi
Build Item Jotunn's Wrath Jotunn's Wrath
Build Item Asi Asi
Build Item Heartseeker Heartseeker
Build Item Masamune Masamune

Situational Items

Build Item Frostbound Hammer Frostbound Hammer
Build Item Hastened Fatalis Hastened Fatalis
Build Item Qin's Sais Qin's Sais

Relic Choices Ordered by Personal Favorites

Build Item Frenzy Frenzy
Build Item Aegis Amulet Aegis Amulet
Build Item Heavenly Wings Heavenly Wings
Build Item Purification Beads Purification Beads

Alternative Items Suggested by DucksRock

Build Item Titan's Bane Titan's Bane

Skadi's Skill Order

Piercing Cold

1 X Y
Piercing Cold
1 4 6 7 10

Rune Of The Hunt

2 A B
Rune Of The Hunt
2 8 11 12 14

Permafrost

3 B A
Permafrost
3 15 16 18 19

Winter's Grasp

4 Y X
Winter's Grasp
5 9 13 17 20
Piercing Cold
1 4 6 7 10

Piercing Cold

1 X
Skadi throws an icy spear forward, dealing damage to enemies and Slowing them for 3s. Kaldr's basic attacks deal double damage to targets afflicted by Piercing Cold.

Ability Type: Projectile
Damage: 90 / 140 / 190 / 240 / 290 (+80% of your Physical Power)
Slow: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40%
Cost: 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90
Cooldown: 12s
Rune Of The Hunt
2 8 11 12 14

Rune Of The Hunt

2 A
Toggle: Skadi marks a target for Kaldr to hunt. While toggled on, Kaldr assumes Beast form, chasing and attacking the marked enemy. If a marked enemy dies Kaldr attacks other enemies nearby. When toggled off, Kaldr stops attacking and returns to Skadi, reverting to his Elemental form on the way. This ability can be activated at rank 0 and Kaldr gains new skills as it ranks up.

Ability Type: Pet Command
Basic Attack Damage: 50 / 50 / 57.5 / 65 / 72.5 / 80% of Skadi's
Rank 1: Kaldr gains a dash attack dealing 70 / 85 / 100 / 115 / 130% Basic Attack Damage
Rank 3: Kaldr's kills heal him
Rank 5: Kaldr's attacks give Skadi 10% increased movement speed
Cost: None
Cooldown: 0.5s
Permafrost
3 15 16 18 19

Permafrost

3 B
Skadi freezes the ground for 5s at a target location. The icy area deals damage to enemies that touch it and continues to deal additional damage every .5s they stay on it. Gods who step on the ice are slowed and lose control of their movement while sliding across. Also, Skadi gains movement speed and Slow immunity while standing on the area and persists for 3s after it fades or she leaves.

Ability Type: Circle, Crowd Control, Damage
Initial Damage: 70 / 100 / 130 / 160 / 190 (+50% of your Physical Power)
Damage Per Tick: 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 (+5% of your Physical Power)
Movement Speed: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40%
Slow: 15%
Radius: 16 / 16 / 18 / 18 / 20
Cost: 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90
Cooldown: 16s
Winter's Grasp
5 9 13 17 20

Winter's Grasp

4 Y
A snowstorm surrounds Skadi as she chooses a location for Kaldr to attack. If Kaldr is too far he will leap there.

Upon reaching the location a snowstorm also surrounds Kaldr. The initial hit of either snowstorm Roots enemies in the area and Kaldr is restored to full health. The storms persist for 4s while dealing damage to enemies every .5s.

Ability Type: Stim
Damage (Initial Hit): 45 / 85 / 125 / 165 / 205 (+35% of your Physical Power)
Damage (Per Tick): 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 (+5% of your Physical Power)
Root Duration: 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2s
Radius: 20
Cost: 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 / 120
Cooldown: 90s

Introduction

Disclaimer: See conclusion for Patch specific comments and updates. Build has been updated with notes that bring notes and additions from other players. I will add this into my practice because I think that a valuable guide will consider different perspectives and playstyles. I am not saying this build is the only build you can use for Skadi, I am simply justifying why I find it most effective. Read the comments section for some interesting additions or alternatives I didn't think about.
Skadi is by far one of the most unique gods to play in Smite. Although her incredible damage potential is a major pro, the fact that the majority of that damage comes from a source other than yourself means that micromanaging is a skill absolutely necessary to be successful with her. This build will provide the following:

Pros:
- Great Burst Damage Potential
- Very Good CC
- Kaldr's overwhelming presence

Mediocrities:
- Mediocre Sustain Damage
- Low Attack Speed (compared to other hunters)

Cons:
- Weak Mobility
- Ample Micromanaging

I wanted to be fair with the evaluation, but don't be dismayed by the mediocre and straight up disadvantageous, you have Kaldr on your side, and that's an advantage like no other. Many people struggle with shrugging Kaldr and you off so use that to your advantage. This build won't offer the highest amount of burst damage, but it will provide a good all-around build that will make you more flexible in battle.

Items

This is my personal favorite build for Skadi. It is by far most important to note that you can build Skadi any way you want, as long as you remember that Kaldr (your pup) inherits not only your damage, but also your attack speed, movement speed, and penetration. This is crucial because Kaldr will be the reason you burst so hard.

Transcendence gives you a strong damage boost as well as enough Mana to spam all abilities.
Ninja Tabi gives you a much needed 15% attack speed boost.
Jotunn's Wrath does the same that Transcendence does, with the 20% cooldown reduction, which is very useful for such an ability-based hunter. This will allow you to engage and kill more often.
Asi gives you another attack speed boost, some penetration, and some needed lifesteal sustain.
Masamune (thanks to Bullfrog323 for his feedback), helps with the tanky opponents and provides you and Kaldr with substantial physical power and movement speed. Your auto-attacks by end game will be doing around 300-500 damage depending on the protections of opponents, and masamune will ensure an added bonus to tanks.
Thanks to DucksRock for providing a suggestion to build Titan's Bane as an alternative to my build. The choice is yours dependent on your playstyle
Heartseeker provides you with even more of the above. The heartseeker at full stacks will also give you a 65 physical damage increase to you next ability used, which helps add oomph to you abilities.

You will notice that every single item contributes not only you, but Kaldr in one, two , or three ways. Mathematically, this is the key to success with Skadi. Where other gods benefit from an item by the numbers they see, Skadi's items provide even as much as twice their baseline effects. I think critical hit items are a huge loss of potential damage and too much focus on Lifesteal can rob your and Kaldr's damage.

Relics
Sanctuary is always useful, replace with Purification if necessary.
Secondary Relic is up to you, and up to the occasion. But again bear in mind that speed and damage increases to you, work on Kaldr as well.

( Frostbound Hammer can be useful because it slows your prey down for Kaldr to deal much needed damage (especially since patch 3.5 where Kaldr's dash cooldown is increased, slowing down opponents can be very useful, but I personally don't like it)
Hastened Fatalis another situational item. I am personally against it only because it doesn't give you physical power (which translates to Kaldr) and I like to end fights quickly.

Skills

Skadi with this build plays more like an assassin than hunter. You can gank and wreak havoc on enemy Mages. Gods who aren't autoattack-based also struggle incredibly at shrugging off Kaldr.

Piercing Cold:
Your bread. Initiate with this spear and send Kaldr off to get his prey immediately. Your passive applies a debuff through Piercing Cold which doubles Kaldr's damage, but DOES NOT double his dash attack damage. For this reason, if your enemy is within Kaldr's vicinity, send the dog first to initiate, then land the spear.

Rune Of The Hunt:
Your delicious bursty butter. Kaldr ranks up and gains new abilities along the way. His dash is by far the most important one as it naturally does increased damage, and allows him to close gaps more easily (and as such, not get hit as easily). Remember that he doesn't have a cooldown on his dash, so you can use it as many times as you want.
Also, Kaldr can tank towers and attack minions so use him to his full potential. Just remember, he is your butter, so use him wisely. If you foresee a fight or potential gank, leave him in his ethereal peace until duty calls. That being said, if you land a deicide, by all means tank the tower down with Kaldr.

Permafrost:
Very useful ability, which does not deal too much damage, but if used correctly can serve as a pull. Use it in combat to throw opponents of guard and generally make hitting you and Kaldr more difficult (especially melee). Mastering this ability is difficult, but the idea is, when opponents are pacing around in circles, place the circle right before they start moving forward. If successful you will have your opponents sliding straight towards you for an easier engage. Be advised that in frontal assault, Kaldr can get shut down easily. Also, Permafrost allows you to anticipate where opponents will move, so as a hunter who needs to land skills, this is very useful.
The ability's radius grows per rank as well, so consider this in your approach!

Winter's Grasp:
Not great damage, but great cc and super useful for Kaldr. This ability is used to secure kills or stall enemies, not to get kills. If you're being tailed, you can send Kaldr and pop this bad boy and stall opponents, but it's better used for offense. Use it either if you have to stop an enemy from running away, or more importantly before Kaldr dies. So you are engaging someone, and they are about to get rid of Kaldr and focus on you. Use this bad boy and make Kaldr immortal, increasing your sustained damage, and giving you more time to land a few of your own hits. This usually isn't necessary against mages, as they struggle to kill the wolf, but against melee gods, it's ideal.

Tactics

Stay Tuned for more tactics as I myself gain experience
Skadi plays a lot like a ranged assassin with this build. Most of your damage is rooted in your initial combo, which can do upwards of 2,000 damage (that's incredible btw because it's very consistent). Ganking with Skadi is very fun as you get to open and finish your combo before enemies have a chance to do much about it, at which point, they are low on health and usually running to safety. At this point, you just need to keep pursuing as your 500 movement speed (thanks to the items) will make sure that you close any gap in time. If ganking asingle opponent, you can almost always count on a kill. Things get trickier when you are attacking more than one opponent.
My personal advice is to open with Permafrost on the opponent you're not focusing on, as a means of disorienting them. All you need is a few seconds to end your primary target, at which point you should refocus Kaldr on your second opponent and use your ultimate to make sure Kaldr doesn't die.

Conclusion

Please post any questions, concerns, suggestions down below. I will be happy to reply.
This is all subject to change depending on how Skadi is treated in the next few patches.
Keep in mind that she is somewhat more tricky to use efficiently because you have to keep an eye on Kaldr while fighting all the time. If you thought landing shots was tricky from a distance, try doing it while looking at your wolf. Practice makes perfect. You will be surprised by how quickly you can burst down mages with this build!

Happy Hunting! (Annoying Fallout 3 Voice)

Patch 3.5 Notes: As mentioned in the comments, this build won't be affected much by the nerf on her ultimate (a 1 second reduction in duration from 5 to 4) and on Kaldr's dash (a 3 second cooldown increase from 2 to 5). The reason being, the duration for the ultimate is a minor nerf in all honesty, and with this build you will usually be done killing by second 3 of your ulti. The nerf on Kaldr I think is pretty drastic, but that's why you have the movement speed items. Kaldr's base movement speed even without his dash will still outrun most opponents, and you have two slows to help the dog out. Final summation: No changes to the build!

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Collapse All Comments

1
NeroLupus | April 26, 2016 1:27pm
I am going to have to say I personally really enjoy this build. It's a whole lot of fun and it's powerful. I commend you on putting together a nice guide as well if you're new and use this guide you'll do fantastic. If you're experienced, well even better for you then. Once again love this build thanks for taking the time to test it!
1
ubersoldat42 | March 25, 2016 9:10am
CaptElfimis wrote:



I would probably never play another Hunter again haha!

It does however look like her first nerf is in on 3.5 (just finished going over the PTS Notes)

Kaldr, The Winter Wolf
Increased cooldown on dash from 2s → 5s.

Winter's Grasp
Duration reduced from 5s → 4s.

Not much effect on this build, I am however shocked that the slow on her 1 wasn't reduced.


Agreed, not much of a nerf really.
1
DucksRock (41) | March 25, 2016 7:17am
Devampi wrote:

I think the reason her slow didn't get nerfed is as you can consider her as having no hard CC at all (her Permafrost isn't a hard CC as it isn't a disable like a stun or mesmerize)

nope. It's Winged Blade, meaning it's counterable. the slow won't get nerfed if hi rez knows wtf they are doing.
1
Devampi (105) | March 25, 2016 6:39am
I think the reason her slow didn't get nerfed is as you can consider her as having no hard CC at all (her Permafrost isn't a hard CC as it isn't a disable like a stun or mesmerize)
1
CaptElfimis (5) | March 24, 2016 4:33pm
Devampi wrote:

Also a good option would be brawler's beatstick depending if the passive gets triggered by kaldr in some form (every basic would be optimal but triggering it on dash would be nice too)


I would probably never play another Hunter again haha!

It does however look like her first nerf is in on 3.5 (just finished going over the PTS Notes)

Kaldr, The Winter Wolf
Increased cooldown on dash from 2s → 5s.

Winter's Grasp
Duration reduced from 5s → 4s.

Not much effect on this build, I am however shocked that the slow on her 1 wasn't reduced.
1
Devampi (105) | March 24, 2016 10:31am
I'm missing the pen a bit. to increase your burst agaisnt warriors or more tanky targets, I would recommend putting Titan's Bane somewhere in there.
Also a good option would be brawler's beatstick depending if the passive gets triggered by kaldr in some form (every basic would be optimal but triggering it on dash would be nice too)
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League of Legends Build Guide Author ubersoldat42
Coldblooded Killer
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