Freya - The Butterfly Effect

May 29th
-Added three gods to god match-up:
Ao Kuang
Artemis
Anhur

May 24th 2013
-Added lore.
-Added god match-up
-Added new layout
-Added ability rotation
-Added better introduction

Hello boys and girls, I'm Mittfel and welcome to my Freya guide. I've made this guide to share how I personally play her. I believe that she can be built in multiple ways, but this guide will highlight my favorite way to play, which is magical.

Freya is an awesome assassin mage who is cunning and powerful, able to battle and win almost every case. The point to her is to be very tricky and misleading. You make your enemies think they are safe, and when they least expect it.. woosh! They are dead.

Expect to take time and practice though, as with most gods. Very few people can pick up a new god right away. If you don't succeed the first time, try again!




PROS
-High damage
-Works both magical or physical
-Can escape bad moments
-Can be built tanky and still have great damage
-Secure kills easily
-Ult allows her to tower dive

CONS
-Relies on her items and abilties
-Early game somewhat mana hungry
-Needs farm and kills to do well
-Extremely squishy
-Gets misunderstood as unkillable
-No leap or instant escape mechanic

LORE
Valkyries, the elite and angelic warriors of the Nordic Pantheon, are as beautiful and dangerous as a midnight winter storm. Yet their queen, Freya, so irresistibly desirable, so uncompromising in warfare, make the Valkyries seem nothing more than plain paper dolls. She's the object of desire for every God, every man, and the envy of every woman. Even the Frost Giants crave her for their own, often devising devious plans to trick or force her into marriage. But Freya is proud and strong, with the cunning to escape her enemies and ruthlessly retaliate. Every rose bears thorns, but this one wields swords.

Were it up to her, Freya would have little to do with blood and blades. Her name literally means "the lady," and none of more worthy of the title. She adores bright flowers, pleasant company, and the sweet lilt of a sad love song. She's sensual and amorous, invoked by worshipers seeking to bear a child or find a lover. Ruler of the realm of Sessrumnir, a place much like Valhalla, where the souls of dead warriors spend eternity, Freya provides comfort and bliss to the fallen.

Once, Freya was married to the mysterious and elusive God, Od. Immediately following their wedding, Od went on a journey to distant and inhospitable lands. So long was he gone the Gods presumed him dead. Distraught and heartbroken, Freya spilt tears of gold and searched the globe for him. Finally, she discovered him ship-wrecked and twisted into a hideous sea monster. Melancholy but loyal, she stayed and comforted him. Thought one night, while she slept, a daring hunter slew the beast Od had become. Moved by Freya's utter despair, the Gods agreed to allow Od into Sessrumnir, despite the fact that he had not died in battle, so he and Freya could remain together forever.

Before we start, here is a list of gods it has been used against and won.

Freya's skills are great when entering combat for either trade or kill, but also as escape. In addition, her offensive abilities also have a relatively short cooldown of 6 seconds after duration.


Brisingamen's Blessing
This is Freya's passive ability. This ability rewards you with an additional 20% of your magical power as physical power, allowing her to gain physical power as her magical power grows.
Tips and Tricks
-This makes Freya stronger when building magical than physical. However this does NOT mean that going magical is always the safest way for her.

---

Irradiate
This ability activates a buff for 5 seconds that gives Freya 10% physical lifesteal and makes her basic attacks do an additional damage depending on rank.
Tips and Tricks
-This ability scales faster and higher in damage than her Pulse.
-Can be combined with her Pulse for higher single target damage.
-This should be maxed out at the same rate as her Pulse.

---

Pulse
This ability activates a buff for 5 seconds that gives Freya 10% magical lifesteal and makes her basic attacks ranged that deals an additional damage depending on rank. It also applies a 25% slow for 2 seconds at all ranks on impact. The area effect and slow is lost when Irradiate is active.
Tips and Tricks
-This is Freya's most important ability as it gives you ranged basic attacks.
-Can be combined with her Irradiate for higher single target damage.
-This should be maxed out at the same rate as her Irradiate.

---

Banish
This ability gives Freya the ability to banish her enemies into the air for a short period of time depending on rank. In addition, while in the air, the enemies can't be hit or take any actions.
Tips and Tricks
-Works on Bakasura's Regurgitate and Bastet's Cat callCat Call.
-Can be used to either catch up with fleeing opponents, or as an escape.
-After getting this in level 3, this is upgraded after both Irradiate and Pulse are fully upgraded.

---

Valkyrie's Discretion
And now we are down to her ultimate Valkyrie's Discretion. Freya flies up into the air where she is able to fire down up to 4 blasts of magical damage while flying. In addition, Freya can't be hit during her ultimate and can right click to cancel it early.
Tips and Tricks
-You travel at the speed of walking backwards while in the air.
-Damage over Time effects still causes damage to you.
-You are in the air for 3 seconds.
-Can easily be avoided with Aegis Amulet if not used properly.
-This should be maxed out first.

If the enemy runs up to you for engage use your Pulse.

If he is in attack range, activate your Irradiate aswell.

If you are close of dying, use your Banish.

If he uses a deadly ultimate (Bakasura, Bastet, Wukong etc) then use your Banish on the enemy god.

If they run and is almost out of range for your Pulse or they are close of dying, use your Valkyrie's Discretion.

Freya's magical builds is pretty much built on the same theory. You want damage, lifesteal and something with mana regeneration. However, what I like to do is build Freya more tanky than what the most people do just so I can survive fights without having to pop my ultimate to survive.

Starting items

This is what I start out with and the one I find the most useful. You simply don't need a Death's Toll.

Early laning phase

Try to remain in the lane and use your Healing Potion's if necessary. Each minion wave gives you more than what the potion costed and it also heals you up good. At this point I suggest that you aim for at least 1360 Gold before you head back.

The second item

OR OR
Depending how the early laning phase went, buy the one you desire most from the three choices above.

No surviving issues? Get these two: Boots of the Magi and Polynomicon.
Struggling against a physical god: Boots of the Magi and Hide of the Nemean Lion.
Struggling against a magical god: Boots of the Magi and Void Stone.

Laning phase

This is probably the most important part in the whole game. You simply don't want to go back unless the enemy is because if you do, you will most likely fall behind in both gold and level and maybe even losing a buff or two aswell. However if you manage to make your enemy fall back then you have two choices.

Require high damage: Push the lane as fast as you can to make your minions damage the tower and die.
Passive: Stand around and only last hit the minions to get 25% more gold per minion.

The third item

OR
This is very situational. If you are leading, go for the Polynomicon and get blue buffs when needed. If you are behind, go for the Rod of Tahuti for the mana regeneration. However, the priority is still to end Polynomicon before finishing Rod of Tahuti even if you are behind.

The fourth item

OR
Here you should already have gotten full Polynomicon. If the opponent has any defensive item at this point, max out Spear of the Magus. If not, max out Rod of Tahuti.

The fifth item

OR
Simply buy the other one of these two that you don't have. Even though the enemy might not have any defensive item, Spear of the Magus will help you bigtime anyways at this point.

The last item

Very easy from here on. Simply buy Hide of the Nemean Lion and Wall of Absolution if physical god is the issue. Or Void Stone and Ethereal Staff if magical god is the issue. This will give you such advantage against any other damage dealing god. This counts for both conquest and joust!

Potions & Elixirs

If you ever reaches your full build, buy these elixir in this order. Do NOT go for any of these until you have reached full build.

As for active abilities, I like to use MeditationMeditation and Aegis Amulet or situationally Purification Beads. Do note that it is not wise to start out maxing any of these early game!

MeditationMeditation is great for when you need that early mana regeneration, but it will also pay off in the late game with the 25% maximum life on hit. It might be just what you need in order to survive and take home the win in the end.


Aegis Amulet Although with your ultimate, you may not need this unless you are up against a Poseidon where you simply won't be able to reach the sky before it's too late. Otherwise it's all about personal preference.


Purification Beads I can understand why most of the people are rocking out with this active. It has a 30 seconds shorter cooldown than Aegis Amulet and helps you being able to move away from bad situations without having to right in them.

Someone give this god the 'Best Pusher' award already! This god will make you forget all about your real life worries, however it will cause some real headache.
Tips and Tricks
-Bait his Squall Squall to make his mana drop, in between try bait his Tornadoes Tornadoes.
-Don't hug your minions or you will end up getting hit.
-Treo prevents headaches.

Relatively easy match-up as long as you play smart. Don't try to trade with her before you reach level 5 or you will end up losing. Also, don't forget that you have dem .
Tips and Tricks
-Don't hug your minions or you will get hit by her Suppress The Insolent.
-Don't hurt piggy, instead hurt the ugly hag who forced him into all of this. I bet piggy regrets it already <3

One of the stronger ranged physical gods, and on top of that a good pusher compared to you. Although at level 5 he falls off unless fed.
Tips and Tricks
-If he builds Heartseeker and Soul Eater, you are pretty much screwed if he's not ganked early.
-Buy either Purification Beads or Aegis Amulet to avoid his ultimate.
-Move around a lot to prevent getting hit by Impale and don't stand with your back against a wall.